What does nanny do during baby naps?

What hours will she be working?

It can be a long old day if you are working outside of someone else's working hours!

But she wasn't doing nothing, she was on duty and could've easily been flat out with the baby if they were unsettled or poorly.

Just so you know,you will have to pay a nanny in the future when your child is at playgroup/ part time nursery too.

Don't put ideas in her head 🙄😂

Where I live, when baby naps, nanny gets a break for at least the legally mandated minimum, plus also getting some extra time since it’s a not a proper break in that they can’t leave the property. If the baby naps for more than that, they do previously agreed upon and clearly defined baby related tasks. Some agree to do light housekeeping like dishes, MAYBE family laundry and some tidying. The nanny will potentially have a lot of time hanging around but, nannying babies is exhausting and we cared more about ensuring our nanny could be fully rested to give her all to our kiddo than “getting our money’s worth.” Our money’s worth was a well cared for child.

We also expected to have a long term relationship with our nanny and wanted her to be a valued member of our family. We wanted her to want to stay, and she is wonderful with our child. We knew we wouldn’t always be the absolute top of the pay scale and she was incredibly qualified, so we wanted to make the rest of the job environment really pleasant.

Did you not read my original post? I said she should give her nanny breaks as
long as it’s feasible to do so.

But others have foamed at the mouth that it’s outrageous to ask a nanny to undertake any kind of household duties under any circumstances, ie regardless of whether she has time / is getting any sort of a break. And it would be a shame for OP to take that as gospel when it’s patently ridiculous.

And our nannies didn’t take on extra work for no pay, the household duties were part of their agreed tasks for which they were paid.

No, you’re conflating asking a builder to change bedding or a gardener to clean a toilet (both deliberately ridiculous examples) with asking a nanny to unload a dishwasher or fold family laundry (in no way ridiculous asks, as confirmed by all the professional, experienced nannies who have done this for us without objection and the agencies who have placed them).

These tasks were part of the job we advertised for, the job they (and many others) applied for, the job we paid them for when we hired them, and the job they did for many years.

Which rather suggests OP will have no great difficulties either, but feel free to go on believing that every nanny has an identical attitude to you. 🤷‍♀️

Did you not read the OP?

The OP expected the nanny to tidy up toys, clean toys, wash, iron, fold and put away baby clothes. Not unreasonable as they are childcare related.

But OP thought that would still leave nanny 'sitting around while baby naps' so wanted the nanny to do some housework and meal-prep for the parents meals.

Which is outside of the usual job description of a nanny is it not? Which is why she was told she was unreasonable.

You or someone else finding someone willing to work outside their job description for no extra pay is irrelevant to whether or not it's a reasonable request or not.

This

I only had the one nanny as we established a good relationship from the start so she stayed from no1 being 6 weeks to no2 starting school. What I found was that the relationship had a bit of give and take on both sides - really necessary if you get dumped with a work crisis and are going to be late home........ She knew how to look after a baby much better than I did so I wasn't going to tell her when she did what although we did discuss what the "nursery duties" were. A good relationship is worth its weight in gold as once the children were older she would happily make a big dish of supper so there was some left over for us (her suggestion not mine), do a supermarket run to teach the children how to count out potatoes etc, post letters on the way to the park. She also emptied the dishwasher without being asked. TBH I think it is probably OK to ask a nanny to do that and if you have put a wash on before you leave for work to ask if she might put it in the dryer for you but that is as much as you can/should expect.

Not many in my experience! Most of us don’t want to do your laundry and housework, and would be pretty offended to be told you ‘weren’t getting your money’ out of us because we weren’t doing your personal tasks.

You’re conflating ridiculous behaviours like a nanny refusing to tidy a child’s toys (part of their job) or only working every other Thursday to imply that a nanny who doesn’t want to do your personal tasks such as doing your laundry are ‘snowflakes.’ They’re not. They’re just saying they will only do the job you’re paying them for. Same as how your cleaner won’t build an extension for you, or your builder doesn’t change the bedding on his lunch break.

Ah, but the point is this: people are suggesting it’s outrageous for the OP even to contemplate asking to nanny to do these tasks. It really isn’t in my experience, as confirmed by the 5 nannies we’ve had and the 3 agencies we’ve recruited them through - not a single one suggested it was unreasonable!
Of course any nanny candidate can say they’re not willing to do these things, or they’re not willing to do a baby’s laundry, or tidy their toys, or change their nappies, or they only want to work every other Thursday and only if the sun is shining. If that’s their approach they can jog on because plenty of fantastic nannies are quite happy to do all these things.

What would you like her to do op?

Your nanny is providing safe supervision while your baby sleeps. Why don't you tell her to go out and leave DC alone while they sleep if you don't want to pay her for that time...

It’s not throwing your toys out the pram or being a snowflake to say you don’t want to do your employer’s personal tasks. I don’t do my employer’s laundry. I wouldn’t ask a gardener to clean my toilet. And I don’t think they’re being ‘a snowflake’ for not wanting to be my personal servant.

What a nerve! Good for your comeback retort

Oh, and they’ve also happily hung/folded the family laundry too! With the exception of a temp nanny who covered for a summer they’ve all been with us between 1-3+ years and were professionals who did not throw their proverbial toys out of the pram at the suggestion that unloading the dishwasher or folding family laundry were beneath them! Honestly, some of the snowflakes on here. 🙄

We treated them with courtesy and respect and they stayed with us for decent stints before moving on to other things (one had her own baby, another always moved families when the kids had all started school, a third moved away from the area) and we still exchange birthday cards and Christmas cards with 2 of them. So yes, they were happy with us despite us apparently treating them like modern slaves! 🤣

Excellent!

Send her up the chimney.

Gosh, some people are quite happy to lay into you OP without even bothering to read the full thread!

Our children are now in junior school but we have had a total of 5 nannies since they were babies. All have unloaded the dishwasher and put away the weekly grocery delivery, and neither they nor the agencies we’ve hired them through have suggested these are inappropriate asks.

That said, I agree that it’s fair for your nanny to get a break during the nap time, as well as using it for your baby’s laundry (including bedding and towels) and baby’s meal prep. As others say, the nap times get shorter and at some point your baby will be a young child who has no naps so nanny gets very little in the way of a break. This is allowed (ie unlike other jobs nannies don’t have a statutory right to a break because they always have to be responsible for their charges) but it’s fair to give them a break where circumstances allow.

Unless the baby can stay alone, and therefore the nanny is off duty, then she's working. She's keeping an eye on the baby while he sleeps and that's what you are paying for!

You don't need to tell an experienced nanny to wash the baby bottles while the baby is sleeping. She knows what needs to be done and does it. As part of the role discussion, yes, you should make your expectations around child-related duties clear so you're both on the same page when the job begins, but no good nanny will put up with being micromanaged, told when to "take her break" or what tasks exactly she should be doing during naptime.

The way you get and keep a good nanny is to hire the right person and trust them to get on with it.

I wouldn't worry too much op, I expect no nanny will stick around for long.

I was a nanny for many years. My wonderful family expected me to do the following during nap times

• tidy away baby toys etc
• fold laundry
• meal prep for the children
• have a well deserved break

I stayed with them long term because they appreciated how hard I worked and treated me so well.....

One idea is to advertise a nanny/housekeeper and make these extra duties clear to potential applicants. However as PPs have said they will still need a break and the naps won’t last forever.

When your baby turns two and doesn’t have any naps any more are you going to come home every day from 12-1 to take over and allow your Nanny to have a lunch break? And if she’s working a 10/11 hour day you prob might have to pop back to let her have a 10 min tea break in the afternoon. NO - oh ok, maybe just let her have a little extra break now because as soon as your child stops napping she will get no break all day.