How To Choose A Nanny?

I had a nanny taking care of my DS for 6 months. She was a pediatric nurse from Nepal and came through sulekha. She also gave her previous reference which was good. She took good care of my DS and they were very attached.

Unfortunately here only trust works. I would suggest talk to her and see how she behaves. I did first 1st month work from home to make she is comfortable and my DS too with her.

Lock your cupboards and place gold in locker. Restrict her access to only hall and kitchen.

You can ask her. My nanny used to cut vegetables and prepared DS lunch during his nap time. I also made it clear that baby care is priority and others if possible do it.

Yes they may ask for. I used flex time with nanny if she comes early or late, i used compensate with off or half day on fridays.

This is must. Let her know your watching it.

You can ask her pay a visit for an hour or 2. but no need to pay. Once her work starts make sure you are at home to observe her. I used to stay upstairs and work while she used to take for DS down straits in hall for first few weeks.

I used to give full freedom in kitchen and also if possible made some extra breakfast for her. She used to make tea and eat snacks in evening some time. After few months she became very friendly and took care of DS so well.

 

I have had one nanny for 6 yrs straight. She is still a friend of the family. My sincere suggestion. Dont fret about small things like lunch/breakfast/coffee/ tea/snacks .As long as she was with us the kitchen and the fridge was open to her. She could cook/eat anything.

 

I'm glad you found it useful. I'm not sure about the US but i would assume that if she doesn't have the right to work you shouldn't be employing her. Since it is someone to look after the child full time, I would very much lean towards a professional agency for a nanny or check out local nurseries because your child won't be able to report to you yet what happens when you aren't around. From that perspective alone, an agency - though more expensive - is alluring to me.

 

I have hired nannies for multiple times for my son through a professional services agency. Although my son goes to a daycare, I have had nannies in between for limited terms i.e. when he is sick or we moved to a different state. Few important points I stress to have are as below,

1. She should be legally allowed to work here in USA. This is very helpful if you are not going to be home and she will be the only one supervising the kid. God forbid, in any event of an accident, the law enforcement agencies are going to look into this and this can bring a big trouble to both the parties. I also ask them if they have license to babysit. Few pluses to have are CPR certified, First Aid training, early childhood education etc. Check local laws in your state regd. this.

2. Negotiate the terms, her work responsibilities and salary before you start her. Like one of the poster said, have a contract with details listed. All the nannies do light housekeeping work like doing kid's laundry, fix their meals, help in the kitchen etc. This light housekeeping is done when kids are sleeping and she has time on her hand. If she is going to be there for long term, a monthly salary would work better rather than hourly pay. I used to pay my nanny a monthly salary and then pay her overtime by hourly if I needed her for extra time. She should also rearrange all the toys and put them in place before leaving.

3. References and experience. I would prefer the nannies who have experience working with young kids and have patience to take care of them throughout the day.

4. Talk about maintaining a daily routine/schedule. i.e. Lunch/Snack time, nap time, taking the kid out for a walk on stroller (weather permitting). Doing some special activities during the day and based on the age of kid, what could she teach the child. If you don't want your child to spend time on videos, stress this point and tell her to avoid it.

5. If you plan to set camera's in the house, make her aware of it and also check the nanny cam rules in your city/state. I wouldn't put someone on surveillance without their consent.

6. In the end, be flexible and nice with her. She is the one who is going to take care of your child so the mutual respect and understanding each one's priorities are very important. Don't be harsh if she makes a mistake, explain her how she could have done it better.

 

Many people have answered point by point, so I will just share our experience. We were lucky with our first baby sitter. She was very caring, stayed with us for more than an year. Before hiring her, we went to her house and talked. Wife liked her and we went with her mommy instinct. It worked for us. We pay a salary, twice every month, just like how we get our salary. As time went, she became a good friend and hours did not matter. She will leave early in the afternoons if we took off or stay late depending on needs. We had nanny cams in the areas we expected baby to be. We did not lock rooms (as someone else said, we trust her with the precious one, nothing else mattered that much). We did not expect her to do anything other than taking care of the baby.

When our baby sitter had to move to a different city, we started looking for replacement. We asked candidates to come home and spend a day with our baby. We paid for that day. We tried 3 different people before finding the right person. Reasons for rejecting - one person told "why do you want me to lift you?" when our baby asked her to hug. One did not show enough love in handling baby - treated like finishing 'tasks'. Our first baby sitter stayed with us still we found her replacement and she was part of our decision making. Our current baby sitter is with us for an year now and she is as good as / better than our first babysitter.

 

For the first time, my DS will be with a nanny for a whole day.
I got an Indian nanny from Desi community in our area from FB. This nanny was referred by another woman who says that the nanny babysits for her on/ off.

As this is the first time for me hiring a nanny- What should I do be aware of?
1. How do I make sure the desi nanny is credible and doesn't run away with my child?
2. Doesn't run away with passports/ gold/ SSN and personal information?
3.I am paying her $12 an hour. This is the current rate in my area- should I negotiate on the amount or should I ask her to do few household stuff? ( I heard few mommies makes nannies do household) Is this a doable option?
4.Does she get paid in extra if we come home late? or ask her to come early before 9 am?
5. Should I buy a nanny cam and see if nothing bad happens?
6.As she is a new person, I am thinking of asking her to pay me a visit so she can get acquainted with our DS.. is this a good idea? Will she ask me to pay for the acquaintance period?

Any other tips, do's and dont's will seriously help me.

1. Visit the nanny's place. That will give you an idea how she is - to run away or steal. From visa status and family background, also you can get how patient she could be. Already mom nannies are supposed to be more mature and patient. At one point 18 months onwards, kids become very troublesome and fussy. This is time when patience is needed.
2. Try to put your stuff in locker, nanny cams ( we did not have any of those though).
3. Not sure about your area etc. Check with someone from your area. I paid fixed amount it was generous what I heard. She had paid holidays. Pay her well and treat her nicely so she is satisfied and take care of kid well and not look outside and also you do not live in fear of her leaving you for better pay. Its our child we are talking.
4. Depends on payment type. If full time, 30 mins up down is okay. I never came late as I knew her ride is waiting and mornings, couple times requested to come 5 mins early. Talk to her.
With hourly rate, it might be different.
Btw, when we hired her, we did not know much about hourly rate or full time for nannies. We hired her at rate as we were told by nannies experienced associate ( senior nanny).
5.Nanny cam is good but you have to tell her ( disclose her). We did not have it though.
6.You can ask her to visit once for an hour. Our came for 20 - 30 mins. Honestly that does not help much. Child that small ( months old) won't form an acquaintances that soon. Nanny will also be just nervous as she knows you will be watching her every move.
It will help in you getting acquainted with her.


As @viki123 already said, there needs to be trust built up. It may not be at the first moment, but slowly. If you do not trust her, you can not leave your child to her. I had same fears earlier and was working from home at lot. But later, I started trusting her so much that left my house keys etc to her.

 

Below are my thoughts. But would suggest go by you instincts

Taking kid to their house is big no for me.

24 hrs delay is okay. Some time they confirm with previous employees before giving contact.

If you are fine that's okay. Most of the daycare teachers here are in 20's or collage kids. But I would be cautious as I feels 20's non mothers are not matured in handling cranky.

Paying in cash is okay for me.

I would go visit her home. Just to know more about them etc.
Contract sign is good.
I would tell them immediately as soon as i finalize one.

 

I think because she is primary job and then household chores, nanny care work is just for extra money. I would not let my child at her home unless I know her very well.

She seems okay to me.
Outdated in technology is actually good. She won't be browing or whatsapp'ing all the time while child caring.
Waiting overnight for references is also okay. She might be calling references to ask their approval. Plus she might have another chores to cause delays.
UOTE="blindpup10, post: 3881905, member: 459378"]
Nanny 3- Is a college student just around early 20's. I will be meeting her tomorrow. She sent over her DL and 2 references. She was referred by another mommy to me. She says she has experience in handling infants as she took care of her sibling and also nanny's part time.[/QUOTE]

Even though at one point in my motherhood, I might have hired 20+ kid, but now, given a choice, I would not. Daycare have all young teachers but they are in groups ( never one teacher alone) and all are very well trained so chances to doing some harm in anger is less at daycare.
Younger not-mother girls might be very busy in life with friends, girlfriends, boyfriends and finding new job and studying too. They have lot of stuff going in their personal life. Not that married won't but we are matured to balance.

Recently there was a desi gujrati young ( 29 yrs old) nanny who killed 18 months old kid in anger. After that case, I would not recommend. She was paid in cash, so police arrested everyone. ( not trying to scare you)

Cash pay - Is completely okay. I think most of them do cash, atleast indian nannies take cash.
If american nanny, registered, you can probably ask deposit etc. Also check if she smokes etc.
If you do not have any known references, then its fine to run a background check but you need to tell them before doing that.
Tell them that you want to try for a month before making long term decision and will pay for a month. So even if you do not like after 2 weeks or so, you can tell that to her and let her go early with months pay. Something like in job .
But one thing, it usually takes months for a person to settle in another's home and get completely comfortable with surroundings. Also us working at home, they feel like watched all the time. So give her some space when she comes.