My cleaner wants to bring her baby to my house…

It’s hard to find a decent cleaner around here, and I’d give the benefit of the doubt in this scenario if I’d been happy with her work so far.

If I had a baby anyway I wouldn’t think anything of letting hers play with my baby’s toys / playpen / Jumperoo. She’s let you know in advance and it’s a 1 time thing. Sometimes a bit of flexibility goes a long way.

My mum was a carer and she'd bring me and my baby brother along when she went to houses. It never prevented her from finishing all her duties. We just sat in a corner with our toys. The choice is entirely yours to make, OP, but I would personally allow it this once and see how it goes.

Absolutely not. She needs to cancel until she can get some childcare.

I think you are more concerned about the situation in hand that mirrors your own as your comments have echoed, you state you know how difficult it is to juggle a child that age and work, the cleaner is obviously trying to do that as well as yourself with a young child and work.

I think some self doubt about your entire situation is occurring here and underlying possible frustration that you are not in your own home with your child with time to clean your own home which is understandable whilst working and also being a mother of a your young child.

I would suggest to saying yes to the arrangement on this occasion and state that you hope that she can arrange a new childminder for the next cleaning appointment.

The cleaner has only appeared for the duty once. She has not yet earned the right to call in any favors.

OP needs to nip this crap in the bud right now!

Maybe you could get her flogged too for the temerity of even asking...

My usual cleaner was busy so my cleaners sent someone who works for her who turned up last week with a baby (probs about a year old) strapped in a sling on her back. She was there four hours and the baby didn't make a sound!!! She did ask me if she could stop for 10mins to give baby some lunch and I said sure.

It was no bother - and cleaner did an incredible job cleaning - much better than some other stand ins we've had.

Personally I would only care if the work suffers, if she has a good baby and does a good job I wouldn't care

I wonder why the husband can't take his child into work?

As much as I sympathise with her situation, it would be a no from me. She's only been once, so it's not a long standing arrangement where she's struggling and has earned a bit of good will. I would cut my losses and hire someone else.

On a really practical level, where is she going to put the baby? In a car seat? Pushchair? Playpen? An 8 month old is crawling and probably starting to pull up. They are a nightmare at that age and hard to contain.

I would say just once but I think she probably wants to do this on a permanent basis and when the baby gets a bit older it will not be sleeping for so long. When my children were young, I did have a cleaner who brought her child in the holidays but the child was a bit older than mine and they played well together. I also once had a carpet fitted just before Christmas and the carpet fitter asked if his son could come in with him while he worked. The boy was very well behaved.

Fire her and hire a cleaner without young dependents.

Is your house childproofed? If not, how's the liability there is the baby gets into something they shouldn't?

This is an 8 month old whose mom won't be able to do her job while supervising the baby. She's going to be gloved and working with chemicals and she possibly won't be able to respond instantaneously. Are you supposed to be watching? I also think if you allow it once or twice, it will become a regular thing.

I'd tell her to contact me when she's got childcare.

I would say just this once, but you expect the job to be done, even if it takes longer. In the future she needs to make other arrangements.

The only thing I’d be worried about is safety but beyond that I’d say yes.

I don’t think it will work. I didn’t find I could do much (any?) cleaning with my two around as babies. I don’t think it’s a bring your baby type job.

I feel really bad typing that though. She must be quite desperate if she wants to even try this.

I see a lot of posters saying let her try. It does depend what her baby is like, but then again we all know babies change quickly and he might soon stop being a “just sleeps” sort of baby.

I honestly would let her take the baby. My cleaner used to bring her kids to mine during school holidays. I never minded.They were good kids and the job got done. I would have an issue if the job wasn’t completed to a good standard.

I would give it a go. If she manages to do a good job, you haven't been disadvantaged and you get to demonstrate a bit of female solidarity.
If the standard noticeably drops and you're not happy you have reasonable grounds to look for another cleaner.

No, it’s completely unprofessional. You cannot bring your baby to any job.

Is it a one off or permanent? It’s hard out there for mums, but it wouldn’t be acceptable to bring a baby into the office because no childcare.

Whilst I agree it would be nice to help her out as a one off, the difficulty for you likely comes when saying no later on, if it doesn’t then work out for you going forwards.

(Like my cleaner, who just “assumed”, (among very many other things) that she could just bring her dog into my pet-allergy sensitivity home while she worked). I had to draw a firm line at the outset, to prevent an on ongoing never-ending assumption going forwards).

Personally I would say yes but I'm concerned she won't manage, then you can say you're unhappy if the standard is lower.

I would not allow it regularly however.

As a one off I'd say help another woman out.

No, she’ll be doing both jobs badly

Well you only pay her for the time she actually works, if the baby sleeps solidly fine, if she only works two hours instead of three she gets paid for two or stays an extra hour. And not a regular thing unless you decide it's OK.

give it a go if it takes longer due to baby could she be in your house longer

anywhere she could put up a playpen?

Big difference between a 6 year old who can sit quietly watching a tablet, and a baby that will need constant supervision and could fall down the stairs or put small toys in their mouth.