What does nanny do during baby naps?

This is true @PurplePansy05

Tho recently I keep
Seeing on childcare esp that they want someone to iron while kids asleep and pay a sitting on bum rate v housework babysitting rate

Needless to say I don't do these kind of families

Any sort of clean is an unacceptable ask, unless it’s just after herself/the baby.

While the baby is asleep, the nanny can have a break/do things for the baby. They’re in the house primarily to be an available, responsible adult when the baby is asleep, they don’t have to be running around busy the whole time. I think you need to adjust your expectations.

Presumably she continues looking after your child? Unless she's OK to leave the house for an hour she's still doing her job whether she's standing or sitting. If you were paying for a nursery there would be far less than 1:1 supervision and the staff would still take regular breaks. Some activity set up and cleaning up from what she's done in the morning would be a reasonable expectation but if I was a nanny I wouldn't be getting involved in tasks and activities outside of my own direct field of work - the baby. If you were a call centre operator and not on a call you wouldn't be expected to go off and start cleaning the toilets - and call centres don't exactly have a great rep for how they treat employees, lol.

It's not like the person can go out and spend the time doing what she wants. You are paying her to be there, you are occupying her time, therefore they would be working ( whether you keep her constantly busy or not).

Lol you can’t be for real? She isn’t a slave …🤦‍♀️

"we don't want to pay a nanny to sit around while baby naps"

Good luck finding a Nanny OP!

We had a nanny for 7 years...the same one for 7 years. We left her to her own devices and as long as she kept our children safe, she was worth every penny.
Trust works both ways.

I was a Nanny in my 20's and my experience lead me to never ever want to do it again. They paid me very little and shortly after starting they "reminded" me I should be cleaning, ironing, hoovering etc.. This wasn't just the children's things but parents also. I was studying too and took online lectures which eventually I wasn't allowed to do whilst looking after the children even if they were sleeping.

Anyway if I was to get a Nanny myself, I would allow them to spend their time to eat, grab a drink, catch up on her personal life and prep baby's snacks and lunch. I would never have a stressed Nanny secretly resenting me and then looking after my child!

Maybe you need to reread the job specification of a Nanny and also the importance of having a good relationship with her for child's sake

Wow - you sound extremely entitled ☹️ “We have a cleaner so she won’t have to do a full on clean” - That’s really good of you OP.

As an ex nanny and someone who paid for childcare I think it’s really important you understand you are trusting the most important thing in your life to you someone else. Why wouldn’t you hire someone you like and trust? If you see it as “ a pay by the hour job” that’s who’re you’re going to get. See it as someone is really doing you a massive service and you’re more likely to get someone decent.

Except getting on with the housework isn't the nanny's job

Our Nanny used to do light housekeeping like things like the washing up, wiping kitchen down, putting laundry on, hanging it out, putting the sitting room straight. Baby was always priority and I expected them to have a break. We discussed when we interviewed them.

Just 1-2 things a day made our house work more smoothly, we made sure to show how much we appreciated it.

I was a nanny a long time ago. When the kids were asleep my time was largely my own, although I voluntarily did some child-related clearing up eg washing supper dishes, tidying away dirty clothes, putting shoes and bags where they could be found in the morning. On days when I had the baby on her own I’d do a few child-related things in obvious need of attention while she napped (eg hoovering up cornflakes, washing baby bottles, preparing next feed) then sit down with a coffee and a magazine.
As a student I had a cleaning job which I quite enjoyed - till the family decided l could easily mind the (ostensibly napping, but actually not napping) kids at the same. It’s not reasonable to do both so I quit.
I think it’s fine to expect a few child-related things to be attended to, but keep it light and informal and definitely don’t expect cleaning and dishwasher duties.

Would you like your own employer to give you little jobs between your actual jobs, OP?

Are you factoring in her lunch break when you say 3+ hours of "sitting around"

Baby washing, baby ironing, pack away too small clothes and refill with new, make a list of anything baby needs. Batch cook baby meals. Plan and book activities/classes.
Have a break/lunch/cup of tea like any normal person?

If you want a good nanny who is loyal and looks after your child well when they are awake why on earth wouldn't you want her to rest and enjoy her break whilst the baby is asleep?

My daughter is a live in nanny. She works a 10.5 hour day. Her only break is when the children are sleeping. As others have said, she does meal preparation, clearing up the kitchen, tidying bedrooms and the playroom, children’s laundry. She will plan activities, at home and out and about, arrange play dates, buy birthday gifts for the children’s friends.

She is happy to take in deliveries, pick up things when she’s out and about, fold the occasional load of the parents’ washing if it is still in the machine when she wants to use it, load and unload the dishwasher.

As she is live-in she sometimes eats with the parents in the evening. When she does, they take it in, turns to cook and clear away. Not rigidly so, but give-and-take in the way you would expect with any adults sharing a living space.

No it’s not reasonable. She’s not a maid. She’s a nanny.

Preface this with I've never used a nanny, but in my view what you're paying for at those times is for someone to be 'on call' for any issues with baby.
What are you going to do, tell nanny "baby sleeps 10 til 11 so you go outside for a break then and we won't be paying you for that"?!

I don't understand how you have been 'burned'?

YOU are the one who doesn't seem to understand what you are hiring someone for... you are hiring them to WATCH your child, thats what they are doing.

You aren't burned you are paying for their time. Their time sat in YOUR house watching YOUR kid which is YOUR legal responsability that you are hiring them to take over. They aren't doing it for fun and I bet they would rather be elsewhere.

The other things you want are NOT jobs for a nanny but completely separate jobs and you are suppose to hire someone else for those things.

You don't expect your window cleaner to also weed your garden do you? or your kids teacher to paint your bathroom during break time? That is how silly you sound tying together these completely unrelated tasks.

As above the vast majority of evening babysitting is purely being a responsible person in the house in case of any problem whilst the children sleep and you still pay for it. You still need your nanny to be "on call" for when the child wakes up and to ensure they are safe in the unlikely event of a house fire/burglary etc. Her childcare skills are obviously in better use when the child is awake but she can't leave the house so she is still working.

Presumably Nanny is allowed lunch. So one of the breaks is lunch.
Then the other is laundry, tidying etc for baby.
It’s not considered OK for her Nanny to do the rest of the households cleaning, laundry, washing etc.
If, however you put it in the job description that Nanny is also a maid of all work then that’s up to you.
Think you might struggle to get a Nanny though and retain them.

As I am sure you are aware, sometimes naps are shorter, sometimes they are longer, sometimes the baby wakes half way through and then goes back to sleep, sometimes they take time to settle. So the times will not always be the same and they will not always be predictable and the timing and length of the naps will alter as the baby grows and develops. Let the nanny have a break, a drink, go to the toilet, have a sandwich, maybe they can sort things out ready for a trip out, maybe they can put a few toys away after they have had a break