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When we had a nanny...

1) Brooklyn, NY
2) Hourly
3) $16/hour
4) W-2
5) Charlie's laundry, loading the dishwasher, and light meal prep for Charlie
6) 1 child

@irene: we have someone helping out right now but it's only temporary. i'm interviewing nannies now and am deciding between whether to have a nanny with reduced hours so she can watch also watch charlie when he's sick or daycare is closed, or whether we should do a nanny share for olive which would reduce costs.

@irene: Ah, first comment. The job doesn't start until May. In my experience, most people are looking for jobs to start immediately. So you'll get better responses closer to your start date. I definitely understand why you want to lock down your child care, but it will be really difficult.

Second comment: when I first started looking, I also thought the hours could drastically change. Most people are looking for a set schedule, a set amount of hours. I'm not saying it's not possible, but offering a guaranteed amount of time will also help.

Final comment: I'd expand or be more specific about the light housekeeping. In my ads, I clarified to say something about housekeeping only as related to the baby (I think some nannies are afraid of becoming cleaners) -- so only baby laundry, keeping the baby room clean, doing baby bottles and dishes.

@sandsandmore: I agree about the hours thing, too. I didn't know what type of child care I wanted at first so attempted to have a nanny. We maintained a flexible schedule and I thought she was OK with it but then when something with more hours came along she left me to for that, which is understandable I suppose. I also felt like she took advantage of the flexible schedule a bit by canceling last minute but I think that was her own lack of professionalism. So based on my experience with that, I would set the hours and days from the beginning.

This was a nanny I found on care.com BTW which is why I am commenting although I ultimately went with day care instead.

@irene: daycare definitely fills up fast, especially for infants, so i would start looking for that right away. but nannies who are actively looking for jobs are usually looking to start right away.

if it were me, i would not make cpr certification a requirement. i would just ask them to take a class on their own time but i'd pay for it as a hiring condition. otherwise interested nannies might not apply if they don't already have a certification.

i agree with the previous comments about set hours. 10-40 is a huge range, and most people are probably looking for something full-time.

and as far as housekeeping, most nannies are not willing to do much more than baby's laundry, keeping baby's room clean, and baby's dishes. i thought our nanny could help out with housekeeping more at first, but she needs a break too. i agree about being more specific about housework because most nannies do not want to do it.

we're in the hiring process now, so I'm going to start a whole series on hiring nannies perhaps as soon as tomorrow.

@beka: we found our first nanny through a friend/word of mouth. this time i posted on a local listserv that I am very active on. i probably got like 50 responses -- some from nannies themselves, but mostly from former employers recommending their nannies.

@Mrs. Bee. as far as making CPR certification a requirement, I'd keep it. Most qualified nannies will already have it. In my case because I was bringing home a micro-preemie, i made nursing experience/background a requirement. All my nannies have had it: a new nursing grad (employment was for summer only), an EMT (part-time), and my current one works as a clinical tech part-time on the mother-baby unit at a local hospital). I haven't needed any of those skills with DS, but I'm glad they were required -- I'm paying for that peace of mind.

I was in residency so I never made any kind of nursing beyong CPR a prerequisite. I do think having it is very important though.

@tequiero21: you can get a baby nurse, but they are pricey especially when it comes to twins. but they have tons of experience caring only fir newborns, and there are baby nurses that specialize in twins and triplets. for a baby nurse you can actually start interviewing as soon as you get pregnant because they book up fast.

even a nanny/babysitter with newborn experience will be a huge help. gosh i can't imagine taking care of newborn twins by myself when just one is hard enough!

yah we're looking 3 weeks in advance, but there are just so many nannies in our neighborhood, i'm not worried.