Nanny Wearing Mask
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Anonymous
| We just hired a nanny for our 12 week old baby, and we are torn on whether or not we’ll require her to wear a mask when she starts next week. She’ll only be working for our family and ensures us she’s only going out for essentials, but she lives with her boyfriend and we unfortunately didn’t want to be too intrusive and ask about his lifestyle so that is where we worry. However I have also been reading up on how seeing facial expressions is very important for a baby’s development. Also my husband is vouching for no mask because he just feels it’s cruel to make someone wear one for 8 hours when they’re already stuck inside with a baby all day. Just wanted insight on what others are doing with their nannies. Thanks neighbors |
Anonymous
| For what it's worth, I run a nanny agency and have placed close to 100 nannies during the pandemic. Only 1 family has asked the nanny to wear a mask at work and that was something we make very clear in the job post so we ensured all candidates for that family was willing to do so. |
Anonymous
| As a nanny I do not think I would accept a position where a mask is required. While I 100% believe in wearing mask out in public and with anyone not in your immediate bubble, considering your nanny will literally be touching your baby and everything in your home, a mask unfortunately will not do much in my opinion. Also baby cannot wear mask so there is still an exposure risk on nannies end since parents aren’t wearing mask with baby (parents could expose baby, then baby exposes nanny). At this point, find someone who’s social distancing habits meet your standards and accept the risk that’ll still be there if you really want/need the childcare. |
Anonymous
| I think it does matter what exposure they have at home and would have asked about it before offering the job. Our nanny lives alone and is very careful about limiting outside exposures so we do not require a mask when she works. |
Anonymous
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A caregiver wearing a mask will hamper your baby’s development. Babies need to see faces, expressions, and mouths forming words. You should have hired a nanny who promises to only see you and you promise to only see her. But seeing as you already hired a nanny with a boyfriend, you are just going to have to accept the risk of her working without a mask.
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Anonymous
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1. Your child needs to see her face.
2. You didn't discuss a mask prior to hiring her. 3. The nanny will need to stay with your child at all times, so she can't go outside to eat and drink. That would mean foregoing food and water for 8 hours, which is not possible long term. |
Anonymous
You have no control over this. Bubbles are pretty leaky even if you think your nanny is only seeing you. There is a risk with having childcare. For us the benefit (us maintaining our jobs and sanity) outweighed our personal risk of COVID. We do not have our nanny wear a mask just like we don’t wear masks around her. |
Anonymous
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Also a nanny here- I would never accept a job that I was required to wear a mask all day in the home. Your baby and their nanny will never bond. This is also something that you should have discussed prior to hire. If this were me, and you asked me to wear a mask a week before the start date, I would be looking for a new job immediately.
A more effective way to be cautious about covid is establishing trust from the get go and having an open honest conversation of any risks/exposures nanny might have and go from there. |
Anonymous
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A mask is not going to protect you for 8 hours with no other PPE or precautions. Sorry to burst your bubble.
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Anonymous
| The people posting on here are stupid . It’s absolutely helpful to wear a mask because it CAN protect the baby from covid . My friends baby got covid , the rest of the family was negative but the nanny was positive . The pediatrician noted a lot of family’s nannies are testing positive because they make poor decisions in their personal lives . Protect your baby and ask the nanny to wear a mask . To protect the nanny you guys should also wear a mask when you’re home . Ask a medical person their opinion on this not a bunch of dodos posting on a forum . |
Anonymous
Oh stop embarrassing yourself with the ridiculous and childish name calling. Of course masks help stop the spread but we’re talking about weighing the risk of covid vs an infant’s development. Babies need to see faces to develop normally. Ask any pediatrician. |
Anonymous
I stand by my previous post. The nanny can't eat and drink outside AND supervise the child. Therefore the mask will be off at least part of the time anyway. Therefore the nanny might as well not wear a mask. Also, it's not good for the baby's social, mental or emotional development to see their primary caregiver wearing a mask constantly. But the biggest issue still remains that OP didn't discuss this prior to hire. |
Anonymous
| You just lost a nanny because of your outrageous mask mandate. Why don't have her double or triple mask and wear haz mat clothing. |
Anonymous
Huh ?! That doesn’t even make sense. The baby got covid but parents didn’t? They don’t touch/kiss the baby? If the virus wasn’t spreading so fast and easily there would be no mess in this world now... |
Anonymous
+1. It’s not possible. |