Nanny with own child - a few practical questions

If you've had an NWOC (or you are one):

• Where did nanny's DC sleep, if they needed a nap during the day? We only have two bedrooms - DS2 naps in a travel cot in DS1's room at the moment. We do have a study downstairs where nanny could put her own travel cot - could this work?

• Did nanny have her own double buggy? What about highchair?

• What happened if nanny's child was ill?

• Did you have extra insurance to cover you in case nanny's child hurt themselves in your house?

We have one child at school, the NWOC child and our DC2 spend their days together until 3pm when DC1 is collected. They all get on like a house on fire and DC2 would be lost without our NWOC's child. They have a ball.

The only downside is that our nanny doesn't get a lot of child admin beyond catering [sorting toys/outgrown clothes etc] that if she was a sole nanny to a pre-school child that still naps might. Her DC will be off to their free 15 hrs come Easter so we'll see then depending on timings.

Apart from all the above, I would alo add in the contract that the nanny must pay if their DC damages anything.

I must admit that I already knew my nanny so was confident she would be a good worker, although she still went above and beyond what I would have expected!

Word of mouth recommendation would be the best if you can find a nanny that way. Do you have a local community website? Or friends with nannies/older children who might have used one?

Oh ps we have since switched to nursery. More reliable.

Daphne I am so sorry to be negative on your thread.

Being honest it didn't work that well for us to be honest but that is due to our nanny, I think, not the arrangements .

I am so envious of Badgerface's description - her nanny sounds like a trooper. We have had a very odd (unlucky?) situation where my DD hasn't been ill but hers seems to be ill a lot constantly. Add in that she herself phones in sick a lot means that I used up 90% of my annual leave entitlement in covering HER absence. In 6 months! Bloody nightmare.

So again - back up childcare for her. Clear agreed rules. And a good work ethic.

On the plus side, my DD made a great friend and blossomed.

BTW, I was really happy with mine!! My DS had a best friend, they had loads of fun, were the same age so going through things at the same time. It was good for my son to have company.

Hi daphne yes of course feel free to pm any time

If £10ph is the normal rate in your area then £8ph is about right for NWOC, about 20% less is average (although there is variation in this).

I know you don't want downsides, but have you looked at the cost of a NWOC? It's not always the saving people imagine it to be. A NWOC will usually only take a 10-20% pay cut. It's not 50% like a share would be.

To answer your questions;

-sleep - I wouldn't worry about this in advance because there are too many ifs, ands and buts. The nannies child could sleep on the sofa, in a travel cot, in a buggy, in a sling or could not sleep at all.

-equipment - the nanny is unlikely to have her own double buggy, unless she has two children. Highchair and stuff is easily workable either by using the highchair in shifts, feeding one on her lap, or bringing a booster seat/table seat thing.

• illness - as already said, you need to decide what you want to happen and make sure it is well discussed beforehand.

• I'm not sure about the insurance.

Make sure you discuss activities (what you/they want to do and who pays), food (who pays for what and who eats what), what happens if nanny's child breaks something, can nanny leave stuff at your house etc. Think everything through.

It can work really, really well so don't be put off, you just need to be organised and clear upfront. The more 'uptight' a person you are, the more this is true!

You pay E'ers NIC on SMP but the payment you receive from HMRC covers that too. We've moved DD to a nursery place instead of getting a cover nanny as a space came up at the right time (which are like gold dust where we live!). The change has pros and cons and it's been a hard transition. I definitely miss lots of the nanny aspects and would do it again if I have a second baby.

Just to answer some of your other initial questions:-

My nanny brought her child with her if she was ill, I was happy with that as my DD was likely to have caught it anyway (although it didn't happen more than once). My nanny also went above and beyond by having my DD on a couple of occasions when she herself was unwell and had her mum come help her or her husband worked from home. She reckoned if she was well enough to look after her own DD with help then one more was fine. We just dropped DD with her instead of her coming over to ours.

I think a travel cot in your study would be absolutely fine for naps.

Our house insurance added on some employer's liability cover for not very much, about £10 I think.

I'd recommend PAYE for Nannies to sort out all the payroll stuff. It costs about £150 a year and they will draft a contract for you which you can then tailor.

I did this when DS1 was a year old. Nanny's child slept in her pushchair. We bought a cheap second hand double buggy and had a portable high chair booster thingy. The nanny negotiated with toddler groups and activities with my help if necessary. My biggest problem was when I was on maternity leave! Food was a bit of a contentious issue for me as I but I hadn't really thought it all through.

For our arrangements we had a travel cot in the spare room for my nanny's child, who was the same age as my DD. I bought a double buggy second hand and my nanny went to free activities at the local children's centres and the park. We had a spare highchair so they could eat together. You could always use a fabric one which fits in a chair if you are short on space round the table.

My nanny ended up going on maternity leave after 8 months but don't let that put you off. You get plenty of warning to make alternative arrangements and the government pay you the SMP as you are a small employer so you are not out of pocket.

Very happy to answer any questions... I miss my amazing nanny with own child!

Some good advice on here OP. We have had a nanny with her own child on a couple of occasions and it's worked out extremely well. In our case we only had one DC at that stage, and he was always 2-4 years older than the nanny's child. My son really enjoyed the extra dynamic, playmate etc. and we still keep in touch with our nannies and their children even though we have moved away now. The first time the nanny had a double buggy, the second time my son was old enough to walk/scoot. Both times we just let the nanny use our travel cot/high chair etc, but our son was a bit older so didn't need them by then. I would second what Eminado said about thrashing out all the different scenarios discussed here - we didn't have a bad experience by any means but it really helps everyone to know where they stand rather than being surprised and it becoming awkward. I would only add that I think for this scenario to work well it does require everyone to work that little bit harder at the relationship and assume positive intent etc. on both sides! Otherwise it won't work, even more so than a nanny without her own child I think. Good luck!

Sorry to be so negative .

I think my point is you need her to have a very good work ethic.

Gruber and Eeoyore who posted above sound like they are practical and not work shy ie will make the effort to get in to work as consistently as possible. I think you need that otherwise its just too stressful. Good luck.

Sorry, not clear- I didn't have a double and neither did they but we managed with sling and buggy combo (though like I say he is usually in sling anyway so not a huge change for us).

Hi Daphne

We did this.

You need to seriously thrash out what will happen if your nanny is sick, her child is sick or yours is. Seriously!thrash this out.

Who pays for what - food, outings, classes etc

Our nwoc has a double buggy.

Travel cot for sleeps.

Cannot emphasise enough the importance of discussing what will happen when her child is sick. Speaking from bitter experience.

I took my DS to work (returning to my previous job) starting when he was 7 months. I took my own highchair to keep there (stored in under stairs cupboard.) There was actually a travel cot for me to use but he ended up napping in his buggy most days (he only came 1 day out of the 3 I work) I took his own food too as he has multiple allergies. We all went to playgroup together, took it in turns to pay as it was cost per "family" so one week I paid, other week out of kitty. Double buggy- only 22 months between my son and youngest charge, but he was carried in a sling so if she needed the buggy he was happily carried in the sling. It has worked really well (with a bit of flexibility on both parts) and he still comes occasionally.