Nanny/Help arrangement questions

Hi, we're trying to come up with a realistic idea about Nanny/Help arrangement for our 3 week old twins. I've been nervous/anxious about finding someone since they were born. We'd need help ABSOLUTELY for sure from mid-March/April, but even earlier the better...

My specific questions are:
- once my husband goes back to work in 2 weeks, how much of help would I need? How do new mothers handle this situation?
- While I'm home before returning to work in Spring, what type of help would be better? Nanny or Housekeeping?
- Any best way to find nanny in Maryland/DC area?

thanks for your help!!!

 

Hi, we're trying to come up with a realistic idea about Nanny/Help arrangement for our 3 week old twins. I've been nervous/anxious about finding someone since they were born. We'd need help ABSOLUTELY for sure from mid-March/April, but even earlier the better...

My specific questions are:
- once my husband goes back to work in 2 weeks, how much of help would I need? How do new mothers handle this situation?
- While I'm home before returning to work in Spring, what type of help would be better? Nanny or Housekeeping?
- Any best way to find nanny in Maryland/DC area?

thanks for your help!!!

 

We live in Mexico and I have a night nurse. She is absolutely fabulous. She works from 7pm - 7am. It gives me an opportunity to sleep through the night and function the next day. I don't know how people do it without help. My husband and I do it alone on the weekends and it is very hard. The weekend is completely shot after a night of not getting any sleep. Our night nurse stays awake with them all night too. A friend recommended my night nurse, so I felt comfortable with her pretty quick. Good luck and go with your gut feeling when looking for someone. Along with references of course.
Michelle

 

Hi there,
We had a night nanny. I contacted my local MOM's club (mothers of multiples) to get referrals. You can go through an agency but it will be pricey. Mine was $12/hour. In terms of housekeeping, mine did the laundry-folded-and put away in the nursery, cleaned the kitchen, washed and sterilized all the bottles and made a fresh batch for the next day. She came from 11pm-7am M-F. Honestly, I don’t know how I would have got through the first four months with out help and SLEEP. Although DH took a month off when the babies were born, I could not ask him to help me a night with his job, so this was a must for us. Also, make sure they are CPR certified and obviously you need to have a gut feeling about someone before you invite them into your home and leave them in charge of your MOST PRECIOUS things on earth!! Mine also came with 25+ letters of recommendation from other multiple families she had worked with in the past – be sure to call a few and ask what they liked AND disliked about your future hire. Good luck!!

 

I personally would have preferred a housekeeper to a nanny (prior to going back to work). I handled the babies pretty well on my own, but my housework and cooking did not get done.

DH and I took shifts. I went to bed at 7pm and he took the feeding from that point in time until around 2am. Anything after that I got up for. That way we both got a reasonable amount of sleep for our needs and it worked out great.

I do have a nanny now M-F 8-5, as I work FT from home. I have a cleaning service every other week too, but I'm thinking about phasing them out once I get my basement finished and things back to an organized state. They just don't clean the way I clean.

 

You can do it on your own, once your dh goes back to work. Just try to be as organized as possible, try to feed both at the same time, get in a load of laundry here and there. You will be tired but it is doable.

Sorry I dont know anything about nannys though

 

My mom stayed with us for 1 month and then we were on our own. My babies are really good, no colic and not very fussy, most of the time anyway. I would love to have a houskeeper more than a nanny. I am going back to work two days and we have on goinig nanny problems. I tried one for a few hours and came home and they did not have any clothes on and were cold, it was awful. Even though I showed her where everything was. We have come up with a better soltuion now. But as for the nanny I would try her for a couples hours first before hiring her.

Susie

 

Hi

Congrats on your little ones. I live in Rockville so I can help a little here. I went back to work fulltime when the kids were somewhere between 4-5 months. I have a nanny that comes in M-F as well as a cleaning service that comes in every other week. I honestly don't know if I could do without either one. By the time I commute about an hour to work (each way, depending on traffic), cook/feed the kids, throw a load of laundry in and try to spend sometime with my husband and by myself, it is all I can do. I am probably not as organized as some but I love having them both (but not the expense). The weekends are spent running errands (Sam's, grocery store, birthday parties, church) and spending time with the kids. I prefer using my weekends this way rather than cleaning. However, I do spot clean periodically so the house is not in complete shambles when they come. Okay, I have rambled but the end result is, I have both and am keeping both as long as it is economically feasible.

Hope this helps.

I realized I didn't answer the last question. We used Potomac Nannies and spoke with White House Nannies as well. I went with an agency so that they could do the background checks and I had some piece of mind that the nannies had been screened before I did the interviews. Depending on your neighborhood, I see listing in our community newspaper as well.

 

We realized we needed help after being home for 24hrs! We hired a night nurse for a few days a week for the first month - $25/hr ouch. That helped DH because he could sleep through the night but I was up pumping.

We started looking for a nanny immediately for help during the day. I was staying home for 4 more months but we figured the extra expense was worth it. I took us 3 weeks to hire someone through a local agency. She works 8am-5/6pm depending on my schedule. It's very expensive but I don't have to take my 2 girls to daycare Big sis still goes but at 4 it's not too hard to get her out and she would miss it terribly if she was at home now.

We have a cleaning service every 2 weeks and they do an OK job. As the PP said, I prefer to spend every free minute with my husband and kids.

I don't know how I would cope if I didn't have help. I love my job and having help lets me balance all parts of our lives.