How much time is reasonable to leave a 9 month old in a play pen in a 6-8 hr day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: The problem is that my schedule is not attractive to many nannies. I'm a full time nurse. I have to work a rotating schedule for now in a new unit. Every week I work different days and sometime different hours. I sent emails to about 30 nannies describing our scheduling needs and received only two interested responses...one of which backed out because they found another family with a set schedule. Most responses I received said they were already working full time for a family or that their schedule would not work with mine. So that is why we feel like we are stuck and have to work with the nanny we have.

That would explain it. Does your DH work predictable hours? Could you put baby in daycare with before/aftercare options and get a roating list of backup night sitters? You'd end up paying for more hours than you need, but it might be comparable and care would certainly be better!

[Anonymous]

Daycares typically keep babies confined, from what I've seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: The problem is that my schedule is not attractive to many nannies. I'm a full time nurse. I have to work a rotating schedule for now in a new unit. Every week I work different days and sometime different hours. I sent emails to about 30 nannies describing our scheduling needs and received only two interested responses...one of which backed out because they found another family with a set schedule. Most responses I received said they were already working full time for a family or that their schedule would not work with mine. So that is why we feel like we are stuck and have to work with the nanny we have.

Hospital daycare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: The problem is that my schedule is not attractive to many nannies. I'm a full time nurse. I have to work a rotating schedule for now in a new unit. Every week I work different days and sometime different hours. I sent emails to about 30 nannies describing our scheduling needs and received only two interested responses...one of which backed out because they found another family with a set schedule. Most responses I received said they were already working full time for a family or that their schedule would not work with mine. So that is why we feel like we are stuck and have to work with the nanny we have.

Hospital daycare.

I have worked in 7 hospitals, from community based to safety net to magnet status and not ONE has had a daycare. Maybe it's a reality on Grey's Anatomy but this is certainly not the case in the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't just settle for whoever you get. Please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have one 9 month old baby. Our new nanny started off great - interacting a lot with our baby, she would document all that they did that day, etc. We have nanny cams, which we disclosed in our interview. We also made it clear in the interview that we really want a nanny who will interact with our baby and not spend excessive time distracted by TV or smart phones.

Four weeks later....I've noticed that our nanny is placing our daughter ALOT and then sitting in that same room and watching TV or texting on her phone. During her last 6 hr work day, I'd say our daughter spent 3-4 hrs in her play pen. Of the remaining time, about 1 hr was spent playing on the floor with our nanny sitting next to her with phone in hand texting away and the other hour our daughter napped. I was working from home today, and when I walked into the room they were in our nanny tried to stealthily put down her phone and started talking to our baby. So I know that she knows this is not good. On top of that, our daughter developed a diaper rash today. In the nanny's journal, the only thing the nanny listed was what time she changed diapers.

I'm very dissappointed at this discovery and am seeking advice on how to get our nanny to interact more (narrate, read books, sing music, etc, with our baby. I don't mind some individual play time, but this seems excessive.

Any suggestions?
And how much time is reasonable to leave a 9 month old in a play pen in a 6-8 hr day?

I was thinking about creating a structured schedule ( read books from 8-8:30, breakfast 8:30-9:30, play pen 9:30-10, nap 10-11, etc.) and asking the nanny to follow it. But would that be too much? Right now the only scheduling thing we require is that our baby naps at certain times.

Also thought I'd ask her to document everything they did that day like she use to do and list time in the play pen as a separate line item.

Your nanny knows you have cameras, knows you are working from home but still puts kid in play pen while she watches TV and is on phone. Troll.

[Anonymous]

You need to post your own ad, OP, not just look at the nanny ads. If you do, I'm sure you'll find some good candidates who are fine with a nontraditional schedule. There's always someone who likes somethingdidifferent!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Daycares typically keep babies confined, from what I've seen.

Not all daycares do this. You need to do a better job searching for daycares and not just settle for whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: The problem is that my schedule is not attractive to many nannies. I'm a full time nurse. I have to work a rotating schedule for now in a new unit. Every week I work different days and sometime different hours. I sent emails to about 30 nannies describing our scheduling needs and received only two interested responses...one of which backed out because they found another family with a set schedule. Most responses I received said they were already working full time for a family or that their schedule would not work with mine. So that is why we feel like we are stuck and have to work with the nanny we have.

Hospital daycare.

I have worked in 7 hospitals, from community based to safety net to magnet status and not ONE has had a daycare. Maybe it's a reality on Grey's Anatomy but this is certainly not the case in the real world.

They exist in the real world. The 7 hospitals you have worked at (or Googled) are not the only hospitals in the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to post your own ad, OP, not just look at the nanny ads. If you do, I'm sure you'll find some good candidates who are fine with a nontraditional schedule. There's always someone who likes somethingdidifferent!

This would be true if OP was living in reality and had an actual problem finding childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: The problem is that my schedule is not attractive to many nannies. I'm a full time nurse. I have to work a rotating schedule for now in a new unit. Every week I work different days and sometime different hours. I sent emails to about 30 nannies describing our scheduling needs and received only two interested responses...one of which backed out because they found another family with a set schedule. Most responses I received said they were already working full time for a family or that their schedule would not work with mine. So that is why we feel like we are stuck and have to work with the nanny we have.

Hospital daycare.

I have worked in 7 hospitals, from community based to safety net to magnet status and not ONE has had a daycare. Maybe it's a reality on Grey's Anatomy but this is certainly not the case in the real world.

They exist in the real world. The 7 hospitals you have worked at (or Googled) are not the only hospitals in the real world.

Proof?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Daycares typically keep babies confined, from what I've seen.

Not all daycares do this. You need to do a better job searching for daycares and not just settle for whatever.

Please feel free to name your favorite daycare.

[Anonymous]

Are you a single parent, OP? If yes, then it will be very hard to find an excellent nanny without paying a lot of money to make the schedule something she could live with. I am assuming that you are talking about weekends as well. First, you would have to guarantee a number of hours every week and second, you would have to pay top dollar to make the schedule worth it to her.

THIS is when I would consider a nanny share with a nanny who has her own child.

But your nanny now sucks big time.

If you want to give this nanny a chance - ban cell phone use and all TV when the baby is awake, write out a schedule that you want the nanny to keep the baby to, and keep checking the nanny cameras.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you a single parent, OP? If yes, then it will be very hard to find an excellent nanny without paying a lot of money to make the schedule something she could live with. I am assuming that you are talking about weekends as well. First, you would have to guarantee a number of hours every week and second, you would have to pay top dollar to make the schedule worth it to her.

THIS is when I would consider a nanny share with a nanny who has her own child.

But your nanny now sucks big time.

If you want to give this nanny a chance - ban cell phone use and all TV when the baby is awake, write out a schedule that you want the nanny to keep the baby to, and keep checking the nanny cameras.

+1 Great idea - try and contact the poster who wrote a thread last week titled something like "Why won't you hire a nanny who is a mother".

[Anonymous]

Lazy nanny. Likely under age 30 if all she does with your child is pen her, and then watch tv and text and take personal phone calls. Yuck. You could try a warning but she'd prob know she was caught and skip doge, trying to dupe another family with her "skills."