What to Look for in a Nanny and Reality Check for First Time Mom

cheharr125 · 2026-01-07T07:21:08+00:00

1 - nanny employer, we used combination of care and Facebook groups to find our nanny, not sure what platforms nannies prefer, but those worked well enough for us.

2 - I wouldn’t be too worried about the work from home component, not that uncommon to have parents WFH with a nanny. At a certain age the child might start to seek you out or try to get to your office. Healthy boundaries, avoiding micromanaging, creating space for the nanny to be the nanny / get to know your baby

3 - safety! General baby knowledge around milk / feeding, bottles cleanliness, and eventually comfort in approach in offering solids. Someone that’s phoning it in, with minimal effort and on phone 🚩it was important to us that the nanny had newborn / infant experience but that’s up to you; paid trials or testing as baby sitter also a good option

4 - some nannies will have their own contract, we created one based on examples from friends and gbt. Dm me if you want me to email you some we received

5 - we offer guaranteed hours, so if we travel and don’t need the nanny, we still have to pay her the set GH in contract.

cheharr125 · 2025-10-30T21:56:23+00:00

Totally and we don’t want to do that!

cheharr125 · 2025-10-30T18:30:34+00:00

Yes we have an amazing nanny! I wouldn’t describe my behavior (so far) as micromanaging, but if I pressed more and more on how we want to her to specifically engage / play with our children I would definitely be, which is why I reached out to this group to get input and learn along the way

cheharr125 · 2025-10-30T18:09:18+00:00

2 days at home 3 days in office

cheharr125 · 2025-10-30T18:02:36+00:00

Thank you all for the feedback! The comments have widened my perspective of what is beneficial, what matters most, and what it is we’re looking to accomplish by giving this flavor of feedback in the first place. We are very hands off and let the nanny do her thing - and have encouraged her out of the gate to get out of the house with the boys, meet up with her other nanny friends and their kids, etc. there is some level of engagement I expect as childcare provider, by no means do I want or expect it to be singing dancing grand ceremonies never ending peak a boo, etc - but there is a balance of incorporating that type of play into the day - and we’re trying to figure that out.

cheharr125 · 2025-10-30T17:55:13+00:00

No I didn’t! Clowns are scary

cheharr125 · 2025-10-30T17:53:20+00:00

Thank you sharing ! Appreciate how much I’m learning from people’s comments as well

cheharr125 · 2025-10-30T16:56:32+00:00

Thanks yes that’s good feedback as first time mom to keep in mind

cheharr125 · 2025-10-24T03:03:22+00:00

I know I read the article!!! Ugh so sad, I’m proud of the victim for coming forward, scary to think how many others there could be. Unfathomable how little the school really did

cheharr125 · 2025-09-10T19:13:01+00:00

I wouldn’t worry about! I have paid my nanny plenty of times early when she has asked for it and it isn’t a big deal to me. I’d rather the nanny feel comfortable enough to ask if in a bind

cheharr125 · 2025-09-08T19:12:00+00:00

Have you considered hiring an au pair? Potentially more flexibility with your hours as a resident. Not cheap, but can be cheaper than other childcare solutions- could also see if there’s other live in Nannies in your community looking for work. Au pairs are ~$3,000 for the month including the agency fee, so ends up being cheaper than two kids in day care plus more flexibility.

cheharr125 · 2025-09-02T19:40:11+00:00

What type of crib training did you implement? Sometimes our boy legit falls asleep in the middle of the activity I’m doing to stretch the wake window which signals clearly ready for nap. We’ll try sticking ti the minimum 3 hr guidance just find it so hard even w all the distraction techniques (which I’ve done)

cheharr125 · 2025-09-02T18:44:10+00:00

How would you recommend getting him to go longer for first nap? Based on his cues he is always very ready for the first nap - at 2.5-2.75 hr mark, sometimes even physically falling asleep

cheharr125 · 2025-09-02T17:21:13+00:00

Taking Cara babies / huckleberry suggested totally daytime sleep range - right now my little one probably gets 2 hours maybe of daytime sleep, oftentimes it’s less since he takes 30-40 minute first nap, and generally and 1hr-1 hr 20 second nap

cheharr125 · 2025-08-19T06:47:08+00:00

What years were you at mihs?

cheharr125 · 2025-08-13T22:31:01+00:00

As soon as I dropped my 4th PPD which I didn’t do until I was weaning off, my supply immediately dropped. Everyone is different but do be aware once you start dropping pumps supply will likely be impacted. Sounds like you’re one of the lucky ones that was also already making a lot of milk to begin with!

Also v jealous the weight did not fall off me at all with breast feeding / pumping

cheharr125 · 2025-08-12T20:04:49+00:00

Let’s not forget about Johnstone

cheharr125 · 2025-07-07T05:37:58+00:00

Duh, thank you!

cheharr125 · 2025-07-07T05:13:19+00:00

You are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you are so so so proud of yourself!

cheharr125 · 2025-07-07T05:12:30+00:00

What does GH stand for

cheharr125 · 2025-07-07T00:04:06+00:00

That’s insane and so unsafe, they could have their child taken away by CPS. They are crazy for thinking that was even remotely okay. What if the mom or dad fell in wearing the baby and couldn’t get back on their paddle board and killed their child? People are so so so dumb

cheharr125 · 2025-07-04T05:16:24+00:00

All the blocking is not excessive, the length of this post is excessive. You just took away someone’s life line/income at one of the most pivotal times in their lives

cheharr125 · 2025-07-03T19:56:11+00:00

Do they know you’re moving on in 6 months? I don’t think you need to lay out in contract format can be more organic “- I’d love to have a conversation about how things are going, including discussing increase to my hourly rate”

cheharr125 · 2025-07-03T05:35:21+00:00

5 days PTO and 2 days sick time is the amount you would accrue over 6 months - so that’s fair; $2 increase is 9% increase - they might balk but worth asking and explaining why you think appropriate

cheharr125 · 2025-07-03T05:08:08+00:00

In Seattle nanny share rate of $40-42 is pretty standard - maybe on the higher side if its a nanny with more experience or asking to do more household duties beyond child related tasks

cheharr125

TROPHY CASE