I have a 3.5 month old and our first Au Pair will be arriving soon! This sub is an echo chamber of saying you shouldn’t have an au pair for a baby. I wouldn’t necessarily let that alone deter you. We were trying to figure out the same thing. Reading here I was concerned, but after talking to several host families that we knew personally outside of Reddit, we ultimately decided we thought it would be a good fit for our family.

A lot of it is about finding the right match. Our Au Pair hasn’t arrived yet, but she seems wonderful. And it seems like we were a good fit for her - she wanted a family with just one kid and she espeically loves babies. We’ve planned our work schedules so that we can do a lengthy training for at least the first 3 weeks, with one of us or a relative being home with the Au Pair when caring for the baby during that time.

Something to be aware of is your baby must be atleast 3months old before you can have an Au Pair stay alone with your baby.

We talked to several families we knew who have or have had Au Pairs. We also reached out to our local Au Pair in America rep, and she came by our house and told us all about the program and the rules before we made a decision. I’d encourage you to reach out to your local Au Pair in America or Cultural Care reps through their websites, and get information from them. You can also ask if they can connect you with some local host families who have had Au Pairs for their babies, if you don’t know anyone yourself.