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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Original poster

Paid childcare for 1st month or two after birth

81 replies

bluprince13 · 29/06/2024 09:15

We are a couple living in London. Recently found out that my wife is pregnant.

Our parents are both based outside the UK and are not healthy enough to come to the UK to help out. We don't have any family in the UK and we're reluctant to burden our friends as well. Our friends and parents have said that the first month or two after birth is the hardest. I could take the 1st month off to help myself, but I would have to go back to work after that.

I just wondered if any of you have managed through the 1-2 months without external help?

Also, is it possible to hire a part-time nanny or something - e.g. for 4 hours per day or something - just to keep the cost affordable? Has anyone done something like this for the first two months?

Any advice is appreciated!

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DreadPirateRobots · 29/06/2024 09:30

Er yeah, the vast majority of people manage without any external help.

Newborn nannies/maternity nurses are specialists who work on short contracts but will want FT equivalent hours through those contracts. It's not a cheap option. Night nannies will do overnights; many will do the occasional ad hoc, usually because they have a childcare day job and it's just a bit of bonus on the side. But a night nanny for every night will, again, be expensive. It's your money to spend if you've got it, but you kind of sound like you're panicking. It's a baby, not the end of the world; it's hard work but people manage.

VerasMacAndHat · 29/06/2024 09:25

Childcare is not what's needed.

Practical help with mundane chores would be far more useful. Cleaner, laundry, ready meals or prepped meal boxes to make life easier.

CountingToThree · 29/06/2024 09:25

If you've got the budget I'd focus on bringing in help in other ways - cleaner, shopping deliveries, bought in meals etc so you can just spend time with the baby

Smartiepants79 · 29/06/2024 09:24

Well of course you can hire a newborn nanny if you’ve got the money.
But also most people manage with no extra help and if you’re able to take a months paternity then that’s already about 4x more than most new families
Unless your wife is ill you should be fine.

EthanofAthos · 29/06/2024 09:23

We hired night nannies - they brought the baby to me to breastfeed (or did one feed with bottles), but they dealt with changing him, resettling him etc, so I got way more sleep.

You can also hire a nanny or mothers help part-time, yes. A mother’s help will help fix bottles/do nappy changes/entertain baby so that you can have a shower or something, but won’t be left in sole charge of the baby. A nanny will cost more but can do everything so that you can go out.

Blueballoon90 · 29/06/2024 09:18

Almost everyone manages the newborn stage without help. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else looking after my baby in those first few months.