£300 for a sitter to watch ds over night?

[Spuddybean]

DP and i are getting married in beginning Jan. We would like DS to be watched overnight in the hotel so we can have a shag drink.

The hotel room for a sitter costs £130, which is fine. I contacted an agency who have said the sitter charges £9 per hour, also fine. But then the agency have said they charge £50 fee on top, erm not so fine and that we have to pay 'expenses' - and i'm not really sure what that entails. Room service for dinner i suppose, which is fine. But what else? taxis to and from the hotel?

Anyway, this then means it will cost more than £300 Does this seem reasonable?

My dm had our toddler in her room on wedding night. Must say, we both fell into bed knackered in early hours - no sex on the cards at all! In hindsight I wish we'd had a sitter (for evening, maybe not overnight) as was a burden on dm who had to go to bed early.

You have a 4 month old, that sleeps, at night?! Thought they were just an urban legend.

I'd just do it. See if you can meet the baby sitter before as well to make you feel better. I left my 4 month old with a professional baby sitter. Sure I worried about it before, thats normal, but it was completely fine. I'd pay up the money and enjoy your wedding. Really wish I had thought to do that at my wedding.

It's your wedding day! Go for it, a so we qualified sitter in a room next to yours sounds perfectly acceptable IMHO. Congratulations and enjoy

A sober not so we

Meant to say before Mama i love the term 'a professional stranger' but I am hoping they will be a stranger who is a professional (childcare giver)!

haha acceptable, he sleeps AT night, but not THROUGH the night. He wakes between 3.23 - 3.29am every night since birth and eats for 7-11mins! He then sleeps till 7am. My parents think this is outrageous and he should be left to cry, as he should have been sleeping all night from 6 wks old apparently.

Thanks all you've made me feel much better. i'm now on the mulled wine and happy

morecrack Yes but we go to festivals and events in the day where we can take dc. The part i don't agree with is leaving the child with a stranger, just because they are crb checked doesn't mean they can't be a peodophile who has never been caught. Just my opinion, me and Dh are united in our opinions on that sort of thing so it is seems strange to me . My opinion only (which i am perfectly entited to) Each to their own.

I live not far, and I'd happily do it.

Ex CM, CRB can also get references and would happily meet up with you beforehand.

£300 plus hotel room is a lot of money for a romantic shag evening with your new husband

I'd ask around anyway, even if your friends don't have DCS, they might have colleagues with nannies who could do with a bit of weekend work. If you are paying over £9 an hour, how the person gets to and from their place of employment is their problem. they will need a taxi, you don't need to offer to pay for it in most cases.

We had similar issues when BIL got married and had childfree wedding, I was worried I'd not find anyone - we asked about and one of the woman from my NCT class recommended a nanny who was used by her neighbour and had done some sitting for her when she had hospital appointments.

thing is, if it does end up costing you close to £300, on the total cost of a wedding, that's not bad.

Likeminders are really good - I don't work for them, but have used them for both DCs and been v happy. I think for a one-off, for your wedding, it's worth paying for the peace of mind. You can't leave your little one with some random and their nannies are all experienced and vetted so you can enjoy yourselves (with or without shagging!) and not worry about LO. And like others have said, it's not £300 for the nanny. Even if you chose someone on this thread, it'd still total £250 and could get awkward without more official arrangements. Imagine if your casually arranged nanny let you down last minute. At least the agency would sort back up.