OP, you'll get a big range here and in the market. Twin infants aren't all that hard to manage for someone with plenty of infant experience. Twin toddlers are a different category and significantly harder, so you might think about whether you'll hope to keep someone for multiple years or not when evaluating experience.

We have twins and have had the same nanny for almost 3 years now. We hired her when they were 4 mths old, at the beginning of 2012. We had multiple qualified, experienced, legal, driving applicants in the $14-20 range (base rate - not overtime). We need a 50 hour week so overtime, and guaranteed hours were a big part of the discussion w/ candidates. In your situation you might need to pay a premium for the lower number of hours and whatever flexibility you're needing.

I certainly have met nannies whose rates are in the mid-twenties per hour, but I was able to find competent, experienced, trustworthy loving care for significantly less.

Have you joined MCPOM yet? (Montgomery County Parents of Multiples) You'll get excellent resources and references there. Congrats on your twins!

My starting rate is $20 an hour for one infant (and I do have more than three years of newborn experience, college degree, know infant sign language, CPR certified). My advice would be to look for an older nanny and drop the "flexibility" request. Most experienced nannies want to block out when they will be working for you and are not available at a moment's notice (beyond the occasional emergency).

Remember that you are in competition with other newborn families for the best and most experienced nanny. I would say that the rate you should expect to pay is around $23 an hour. A nanny would rather have one charge than two (at least I would).

Good luck, OP.

Anonymous wrote:OP poster here. Clarification- yes I meant 3 years of infant care only, not necessarily twin infant care. I do understand that twin infant care is a very specialized field that is hard to find and very expensive. If you have 3 years of infant care hopefully you should be able to handle twins.

Thanks for the replys.

Even three years of infant care will be tough to find with the added need for flexibility. Extensive infant experience requires either a NCS or a nanny who has been with 3-4 different newborn families. You are requiring someone to be highly experienced in order to accept the job, but also looking for flexibility, which few highly experienced nannies want to offer. Plan to pay a lot. Typical infant twins will run at least $20 per hour just because it is a tough job. 3+ years of infant experience bumps up the pay a few dollars. Convincing one of those candidates that it's worth their time to offer flexibility bumps it up a few more.

OP poster here. Clarification- yes I meant 3 years of infant care only, not necessarily twin infant care. I do understand that twin infant care is a very specialized field that is hard to find and very expensive. If you have 3 years of infant care hopefully you should be able to handle twins.

Thanks for the replys.

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry for another "going rate" question, but I have details that should help answer the question.

What is the going rate for a nanny in the N. Bethesda area for twin infants? We are looking for someone with infant experience (at least 3 years), CPR certified, legal, has own transportation, 30-40 hours a week and somewhat flexible on hours worked.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Make sure the nanny has had the pertussis booster as well to work with infants.


And I'm sorry, but you lost me on "flexibility".

I think you should be open to less twin experience if you wish to broaden your pool. Think of it this way: to get infant experience, you must be working with kids under 1, so to get 3 years experience, you have to either be hopping from infant job to infant job (which might work for you if you plan to put the kids in daycare at 1), or you start with, say 2 or 3 month olds, stay until they age out of nanny care (between 3 and 5), then find another job with infant twins. You have to do that 3 or 4 times to get 3 years infant experience and for it to be infant twin experience, you'd need 3 or 4 sets of twins in a row. So you are looking at either Newborn Care Specialists (only do infants and have extra training) or at nanies who have worked at least 9 years. Both of these are going to be eatablished and experienced career nannies and will flee from the word "flexibility" because it is code for "we want you to be available to us any time we wish day or night or weekend."

A nanny who has worked with one set of infant twins, even part time, and whk has been full time with at least 2 under 3 should be able to handle the job and is more likely to be in a place in her career where flexibility isn't a dealbreaker.

I think you should be open to less twin experience if you wish to broaden your pool. Think of it this way: to get infant experience, you must be working with kids under 1, so to get 3 years experience, you have to either be hopping from infant job to infant job (which might work for you if you

$20-$22/hr.

You are definitely going to have to pay for several years newborn twin experience - there just aren't that many nannies with this specific experience. I would also quote 23 to 25 depending on the schedule. And I am not at all flexible - so even with my twin experience we wouldn't be a good match.

I meet all of your qualifications (plus a few you didn't specify, so my rate may be slightly higher than the nannies you interview) and would ask for $23-$25/hr depending on whether the 30-40 hours was set (40 hours set, $23 would be fine - if you want the hours to be flexible week to week, I'd ask for $25).

I am sorry for another "going rate" question, but I have details that should help answer the question.

What is the going rate for a nanny in the N. Bethesda area for twin infants? We are looking for someone with infant experience (at least 3 years), CPR certified, legal, has own transportation, 30-40 hours a week and somewhat flexible on hours worked.

Thanks for any help you can provide!