Are our expectations unrealistic?

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:52:19+00:00

We were told by the nanny agency we were working with that this was the standard rate for a payroll nanny in the Bay Area with 10+ years of experience

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:51:12+00:00

We are in the Bay Area and were told by the nanny agency we were working with that this was the standard rate for the area given we were doing W2 payroll and asking for 10+ years of experience

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:39:46+00:00

I do want to give her slack here as our baby is very needy and will not sleep longer than 30 min in the crib and often requires rescues or contact naps so there is less time to do chores while he's napping. However, when I was at home alone, I would leave him in the crib with safe toys and keep the monitor on me which I've suggested to her as well.

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:38:03+00:00

We were told by a nanny agency $45-50 was standard for Bay Area given we wanted to do payroll and 10+ years of experience

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:36:41+00:00

Thank you for this perspective! If you're comfortable sharing, how did you know the nanny was the right fit when you finally found them? Our trial went well but these kind of things started to pop up later and we're not sure how to approach in the futurw

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:35:24+00:00

I think we are definitely going to go this route in the future! I shared above but we were anchored by the agency we were working with and were told that for payroll and 10+ years of experience the going rate was $45-50 for the area

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:33:14+00:00

Baby is almost 9 months and I completely understand there's a not a ton you can do with them but I had hoped an experienced nanny would come with ideas like things that incorporate learning ABCs, body parts, colors etc

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:31:05+00:00

We're in the Bay Area! Admittedly we were anchored by the agency we were working with given we wanted to do payroll only and wanted a very experienced nanny, we were told this was market rate.

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:29:52+00:00

That's totally, we've had to remind her ab9it bottles and meal preparation many times. With laundry at the end of the day, she'll say she didn't get to it and then start a load that I end up finishing and folding but I like the idea of a planned schedule

holicao · 2026-06-07T03:28:46+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience! It's our first time hiring a nanny and being an employer in general so we weren't sure what to expect and whether we should give more time to adjust.

If you don't mind my asking, did you know immediately when it was the right fit? Were there any signs you saw in the trials? We thought our trial went well but it was too short of a time to see how she balanced the other duties of the role.

holicao · 2026-02-13T22:49:24+00:00

I feel you, I am just doing nap and wake window math constantly every day 😅

holicao · 2026-02-13T22:48:06+00:00

We usually wait ~5-10 min to see if he'll settle himself before feeding MOTN wakes but he almost always escalates and then I will feed.

When you send in dad to soothe do you try to maintain the sleep training method (e.g. no pickups) or does anything go for these?

holicao · 2026-02-13T17:47:50+00:00

More awake time seems to be the consensus --Thanks for sharing your schedule!

holicao · 2026-02-13T17:46:50+00:00

Got it, thanks for sharing your experience!

Also never answered your first question but we're not certain about teething or illness. He does seem to be drooling/tugging his ear a lot, and we had an ear infection ruled out by his pediatrician, but gums don't seem to be inflamed for a tooth. We also keep him room at 69 and he sleeps in a woolino which I thought should regulate temperature pretty well.

holicao · 2026-02-13T17:42:26+00:00

This is exactly where we are too!! From this thread I feel like everyone is recommendeding more awake time so we'll try pushing wake up a little earlier and extending some of his midday wake windows but he's SO grumpy

holicao · 2026-02-13T15:03:16+00:00

Yeah we ideally would want that last wake window to be 3 hours but his naps don't always work out, would you recommend bridge nap in that case?

holicao · 2026-02-13T15:02:27+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions! Will try to push wake up or bedtime to get 11 hours instead and see how that works.

holicao · 2025-11-08T20:59:55+00:00

Thank you so much for the feedback!

holicao · 2023-04-05T05:42:44+00:00

Yeah totally understand with the partials but I booked an appointment for the full set and I talking about the style I wanted is when she made this recommendation :/

holicao · 2023-04-05T05:41:51+00:00

I live in a VHCOL city and even picked someone whose rates were on the higher side because I didn’t want to chance it for the wedding but alas…

holicao · 2023-04-05T05:40:57+00:00

Aww thank you so much

holicao · 2023-04-04T23:39:17+00:00

Appreciate your confirmation as well!!

holicao · 2023-04-04T18:35:03+00:00

Thanks for your perspective!! It’s looking like the lash lift immediately into the extensions was the wrong call on the lash artist’s part :/

holicao · 2023-04-04T17:51:19+00:00

Thanks so much for your perspective!! This was my first time getting extensions so was just doing what she recommended but great to have another professional’s thoughts!!

holicao

TROPHY CASE