Wondering if anyone has links to anything that might address whether it’s “ok” to have a nanny or babysitter over during the afternoons while daycare is shut so I can attempt some work? It is dd’s normal teacher so they’ve been sharing exposure thus far. I know it would be best to have no contact with anyone, but I’m also really stressed about actually being able to work some with a two year old at home (especially since I am 29 weeks pregnant and am generally exhausted by 9 pm), and I don’t just want her to watch tv for the next however many weeks. Thoughts? This feels like a safer group than my local moms Facebook group. I would especially appreciate anything published or your opinion of you are a healthcare professional.
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@skiierchck99: I don’t have anything published, but at least for now, our longtime nanny is still coming this week. My 4 yo’s preschool is closed indefinitely and I’m expected to supervise remote learning for my kindergartener and my husband and I are both work full time (albeit remotely). I can’t make all those things work without some help.
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I asked the same question on the main coronavirus thread. And I was also too afraid to post on my local moms Facebook page! My nanny is still coming as of now. She lives with her son who is a teacher so it’s not ideal but we really need her. Maybe we’ll change our minds in a week. I think bottom line, the fewer people you are in contact with the better, but we can only do our best. I mean, some people are still going to work because they have to!
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Yeah ours has still been coming. We were thinking of asking her to stay with us so she’ll no longer be commuting—her kids are all grown so she may be willing to.
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Same as long as she feels comfortable.
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Following. This is a tough spot. Our kids are in daycare, no nanny. Daycare closed now. My husband is working from home now due to the virus. I work 3 days a week, and I'm still having to go into the office now, but may be teleworking eventually.
Either way, it's literally impossible for us to work with them at home- they are 4 and 21 months. I'm in a local babysitter group on FB that's full of college students posting that they have availability to babysit now that their classes are online. It would be a HUGE help to have one of them come like 3 mornings a week, but... ugh. Idk. Would that be socially irresponsible of me?
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I have the same concern. 2 yo and infant. Daycare closed indefinitely, we have a contract and still have to pay. Working while my toddler is awake is virtually impossible and the baby sleeps poorly, too young to sleep train, so not as if I can get much done while he’s sleeping. I’m exhausted. One of the daycare teachers offered to babysit but she is traveling for the next week, taking planes, and I am worried she’ll get exposed. New evidence suggests most transmission occurs before people have symptoms. Also I just read that half of the large number of patients in Spain in critical condition are under 50, sure the elderly are more vulnerable but the risk to younger people isn’t trivial. And since the health system may well collapse,I want to do everything I can to minimize our risk. Ugh...
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@periwinklebee: Just to clarify, the new studies seem to me to be saying that transmission does occur when people are asymptotic and it can significantly contribute to spread. But I have not seen that it is *most* transmission and I would be very surprised if that turns out to be the case.
But—now I am second guessing having our nanny come! She is our long term nanny and like family but we just don’t have room for her to stay with us. And while she is definitely not going to crowded places or doing lots of socializing, she sees her family and has to go shopping and to the laundromat. Ugh this is so hard.
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@JJ2626: I hope so! Asymptomatic spread makes things so much worse....
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We're in the same position, trying to both work from home for the next month with a very active 9 mo. So far our plan is to do half-days each, swapping at lunch, and then working at night once he's asleep. It's going to get old fast. But I've been reading a lot about social distancing and I really do think for it to work effectively you have to be rather hard core about it. You can invite others into your "isolation area" but you need to trust they have also self-isolated for the same amount of time that you have. The article I read said that needs to be two weeks, long enough to know that you aren't asymptomatic. If you can trust the other person has been doing as much as you have to remain well, then you can let them into your isolation with minimal worry. So basically, this was enough to convince me that I'd be taking on some level of risk by breaking our isolation for someone else to come in. I might be willing to do that for a break in two weeks though...
PS This was interesting: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
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@skiierchck99: We're going to make a final decision tomorrow, but we're leaning very strongly toward having our nanny stay home. We've been stocking up on supplies this weekend and have started social distancing, and it doesn't seem right to have our nanny travel to get to us (on the train and subway) and also introduce another set of germs. She's also older, so we want to make sure she stays safe. We're planning to take (short-ish) shifts with the kids so we can get things done during the day while we both work from home.
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@Beehive: if there were two of us I would completely be fine with this plan, but dh is pretty senior and still expected to be at work. I expect this may change, but even if it does he’s in solid meetings all day so basically can’t help.
I would love to have my mom just come stay with us, but I’m worried I’ve already been exposed due to there being a case in my workplace (tufts student) and also she’s a teacher and though the kids are home her school is still expecting the teachers to be in the building 🤷♀️At some times if the year I would just kind of say whatever to getting as much work done but now is unfortunately a higher pressure time.
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@skiierchck99: These school closures are so tricky for working parents. I just had baby #3 on Wednesday so I’m home on maternity leave now but our elementary school and daycare are going to be closed for the foreseeable future. DH and I had discussed that we would have done what we do for sick days, though, if we didn’t already have some time off ourselves. This usually entails one person taking a long shift to work in the morning (say 6:30 am until 12:30 pm) and then switching the caregiver/worker positions and the second person working from 12:30 pm to 6:30 pm.
We’re supposed to have a night nurse starting tomorrow to help me get some rest and we’ve also been grappling with the idea of letting someone in the house. I’m not sure you can say whether this person’s exposure is really the same as your daughter’s. Maybe she went to the store or church or babysat another kid when not with you. When discussing our situation with our pediatrician, he suggested that it is probably “low risk” versus “no risk.” We’re still on the fence about what to do. In our situation, we’re a chunk of this woman’s livelihood so I feel responsible.
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@skiierchck99: So my nanny is here today after we had a long talk about what we are both doing to limit social contact. As of now, I feel comfortable with it but I left it that we will continue to check in. Can you talk to your sitter and set expectations?
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My nanny is still coming. And the college babysitter I use, as well. I am still working. As is my husband. Both of our jobs will not stop. My nanny and babysitter still have bills to pay as well. So as long as they are willing to come, I am going to be using them. Also, my girls both have hand foot mouth and both are still coming! Meanwhile, my mom (age 65ish) wouldn't come without a mile of our house if I begged her.
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