Maternity Leave

[Anonymous]

I am due with our second in a few months and wanted to hear what other parents or nannies did during maternity leave. I want to emphasize that our nanny will be paid for a full week regardless of if she is here LESS hours during my entire maternity leave. Her pay will NOT be affected.

[b]We would like our first to still have a schedule they are used to and some one on one time while adjusting to the new one being home. With that being said, I still would like to have our first home to spend time with her and for her to adjust to the baby!

[/b]Parents, did you allow your nanny to reduce hours based on their choosing or did you set a schedule? If you set a schedule, was there anything you felt worked best?

Nannies, would you prefer to not have reduced hours? Again, the pay is NOT affected.

Of course we will be giving our nanny a raise once she starts watching both children!

[Anonymous]

Ask her for her input. Depending on her experience, her relationship with your DC1 and what she knows of your DC1's temperament, she'll have ideas about the best game plan going forward.

Frankly, if it were me, I'd prefer that I stay at my normal hours and we flex what happens. Some time each day with both children with mom while nanny does lunch prep, laundry, bottle sanitizing, etc. Some time each day with nanny while mom sleeps. Some time 1-1 with nanny, continuing DC1's normal schedule of classes, storytime and playdates; DC2 has 1-1 time with mom. Some time 1-1 for DC1 with mom, for assurance that DC2 won't take over everything in DC1's life; DC2 with nanny. Naturally, I would expect that my pay would increase when I was FT solo with the kids, but depending on mom's level of micromanagement and hormones during maternity leave, I'd be happy to stay at my current rate until after leave is up.

[Anonymous]

Our nanny kept our toddler’s schedule intact for the first two months. It really helped with his adjusting to the new baby. Slowly she started integrating the baby into their day. When the toddler napped, nanny took the baby so I could nap or shower.

There was so much more work with a new baby’s that I doubt you’ll want her to reduce her hours. I was so exhausted that I couldn’t have made it without our nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am due with our second in a few months and wanted to hear what other parents or nannies did during maternity leave. I want to emphasize that our nanny will be paid for a full week regardless of if she is here LESS hours during my entire maternity leave. Her pay will NOT be affected.

[b]We would like our first to still have a schedule they are used to and some one on one time while adjusting to the new one being home. With that being said, I still would like to have our first home to spend time with her and for her to adjust to the baby!

[/b]Parents, did you allow your nanny to reduce hours based on their choosing or did you set a schedule? If you set a schedule, was there anything you felt worked best?

Nannies, would you prefer to not have reduced hours? Again, the pay is NOT affected.

Of course we will be giving our nanny a raise once she starts watching both children!

Our nanny kept her exact same schedule and actually started coming early as mornings with just me and the two little ones was hard.

We started her raise when I was in the hospital because she was sleeping over with toddler.

[Anonymous]

Why do you think you’ll need the nanny less on your maternity leave?

You’ll actually need her more especially if you plan to breastfeed.

Our nanny’s hours never changed and thank God for her!

[Anonymous]

We did not alter our toddler's schedule at all once the baby was born. They had plenty of time to bond. We kept the nanny's hours exactly the same, except when the newborn was 3 months and we went on a two-week family vacation.

[Anonymous]

Kept nanny on same schedule. She only had older two when I was on leave. She did small chunks with baby when DH was on leave. Slowly she did longer stretches with baby and he would take one or both older. Finally, she had all three the week before he went back

I am a teacher and plan to keep nanny on same schedule for the summer. That will allow me to take one kid each day for special mommy dates and the other two spend time with nanny. Then time together for activities all of us.

[Anonymous]

Our case is a little different because we host a nanny share, so there's another kid in the mix, too. We are (with everyone's support and enthusiasm!) going to try to continue the share with all three little ones after our parental leave ends (combined we have five months off).

We're making some adjustments to where people are spending time/napping to more efficiently use our home, but those changes will be in place several weeks before the new baby comes. Beyond that - we're not changing anything about the share or the nanny or the schedule. Obviously the other family needs consistency, but so does our toddler. Plus, we strongly prefer to have uninterrupted time with the new baby at the beginning - it's hard enough with just a newborn, and not having to also balance the toddler's needs and schedule 40 hours a week seems like a real win.

So - the parent on leave is basically going to be hanging in our (luckily, large) bedroom with the newborn. We'll have a changing station there, we'll temporarily move the glider in there, plus obviously the bassinet. There's an ensuite bathroom. We'll go out for walks and such, and probably spend time in the main area of the house when the other kids are at the park, etc. But mostly, we'll keep to ourselves and let the toddlers and nanny continue uninterrupted.

This hasn't happened yet (obviously) but I feel good about our plan. Especially considering you're paying the nanny anyway, I don't see why you would cut her hours at a time when you need all the help you can get!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kept nanny on same schedule. She only had older two when I was on leave. She did small chunks with baby when DH was on leave. Slowly she did longer stretches with baby and he would take one or both older. Finally, she had all three the week before he went back

I am a teacher and plan to keep nanny on same schedule for the summer. That will allow me to take one kid each day for special mommy dates and the other two spend time with nanny. Then time together for activities all of us.

You must be a very good emoployer; keeping your nanny all summer and I guess all next summers. As a nanny you have to think pretty well if the position would really work for you. Bcs I have friends and myself; had experiences when every year they don't need you in the summer; but they expect you to come back in the fall. For my friends and I didn't work out.