The only thing on your list that sounds a little out of the ordinary is bathing.

Sounds about right but the nanny has to be allowed to have fun too! They should be planning out of house activities and have fun too.

Anonymous wrote:Your expectations are totally reasonable unless your infant has colic or never sleeps. "Cooking" suggests hot meals -- is this too elaborate, maybe?

Did you just hire her, or just add the second child?

A second baby is a lot more work, usually only for a small pay raise. She loses her normal schedule and her regular downtime. Some nannies never get over the increased work/same pay thing.

If you hire someone new, she will come in expecting to care for two children, and it won't be a problem.

I'm not saying to get rid of your nanny, necessarily, but get to the bottom of her request.

Agree. Some nannies are awful with two young kids of differing ages. That or they get so spoiled by one child that they suffer major attitude problems dealing with two and less downtime. And gen when your kid is 4 yo and drops that nap she will have another attitude problem and need to challenge the child in a new, different way.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: Thank you! This is no a nanny share. She's paid a fixed weekly income (her asking price) but since the addition of the infant she's asked to drop some of the other work load so I just wanted to get an idea of standard expectations. We want to make sure she's not overworked obviously but we also want to make sure she's doing whatever basic care entails!

With the arrival of the second kid we also got a cordless vacuum for quick spills/cleanup and a bimonthly cleaning service.
We also worked with the nanny in making batch food for the toddler, we did not want the nanny cooking for one hour each day -- only once or twice a week during the joint naptime.
Finally, we put the 2 yo in a 8-12 noon morning preschool so she wasn't wedded to the baby's nap schedule in the morning. I did the drops for that on the way to work. The nanny picked her up with the baby.
What also helped was we bumped the start time earlier by 30 minutes, my spouse leaves the house at 7am so we had nanny start at 7:30am in order for me to leave w toddler before 8am- I dressed her by 7:30 and then i had 20-30 mins to get myself ready. If baby woke up nanny was in charge of that.

Anonymous wrote:Hi folks,

We have a live-out nanny for both of our kids (22 months and 2 months). I would like some input on what are reasonable expectations and duties of a nanny when taking care of both kids? Is it reasonable to expect her to wash/sterilize bottles, keep the kids playroom area clean, do the kids laundry, bathe them, cook and feed them? Anything else that I am missing? She comes M-F from 9am-6pm.

Also, can anyone share what is the market rate for a nanny who takes care of 2 kids?

Thank you!

We have the same situation and pay $18/hour, one third cash.
Nice stable job, $900/week.

Anonymous wrote:OP why don't you try and do all those things on a Saturday this weekend, with both your kids and no help. Im not trying to be snarky, I think your expectations sould reasonable. I also think that a 2 mo and a 22 mo sound exhausting. If there is 30 mins in a day they are both asleep she probably wants to sit down. Going for 9 hours straight is exhausting. That why I suggest you try it.

This is a stupid idea. OP is likely still not getting full sleep through the night and nursing. And after an 8 hour day, OP still has the rest of the day and night to parent! A nanny comes to work refreshed and ready to work, then goes home. The nanny should be able to manage basic nanny duties. OP is only asking for childcare and child-related tasks. That's on the light side of standard.

I am not really sure what that means that she is not going to do those things. Is she planning to stop feeding them or washing their clothes? Does she expect you to do it, OP? I am guessing that you are also dealing with adding another child to your family. Or does she want you to hire another person to come in and clean up after her and do the kids laundry while she is resting? Or just live in filth, let the kids wear dirty clothes, and put out a big box of Cheerios for the toddler?

This profession isn't all fun and games, as SAHP's know! Of course these things are part of her responsibility but not every "nanny" is equipped to handle the tasks associated with children while also providing exemplary care for the children. Do you think she's capable of not only doing her job but excelling at it? What experience does she have?

If you hired me you would know that I was more than capable of handling the position because my resume and references show that I have succeeded in the past. My rates are higher than a beginner or college aged nanny, but I take on any and all tasks related to children while keeping them active and stimulated throughout the day. Also, when my youngest charge stopped napping that meant no more guaranteed breaks, welcome to being a nanny!

OP here: Thank you everyone ! Your input is VERY helpful.

Poster @ 10:16 on 11/9 - when we hired her she knew the second baby was coming and she would be taking over care for the second baby as well starting at 8 weeks or 2 months. She started 3 months prior to the arrival of the newborn and we paid according to her asking price for 1 kid for those 3 months and are now paying her according to her asking price for 2 kids (since the birth of the second).

You all have made some great points regarding expectations and possible readjustment of them given the circumstance now.