Would you hire a morbidly obese Nanny?

[whompingwillo]

I would like to hire someone we’ve met for my 9 month old baby. She’s fab, great with kids, lovely, I have no concerns.

I would estimate her BMI is 50-60 and my husband noticed that it is a struggle for her to get up and down off the floor and he is worried that if baby was in danger she may struggle.

So what would you do? Do you think that weight could impact a job like this? I’m sure people of this weight have their own children and are safe to look after them?

YABU - morbid obesity could impact her ability to do this job

YANBU - she’ll be fine

So what weight do people suddenly become a danger around children? 14 stone? 15? 16? Should all child-carers be weighed once a term to make sure they haven't gone from "safe" to "dangerous"?

Do you report all the single, obese parents out there for being dangers to their kids, or is it just potential nannies who get the nasty judgement?

My highest weight at 5'3" was 19st 7lb which put me at BMI 48. BMI 55 would have been about 22st.

I was in my 20s and hadn't yet developed serious health issues but it was a matter of time. I felt terrible, had back pain if I walked too fast or too long and got seriously out of breath just climbing the stairs. I could have looked after a baby just fine and would have also cooked and served perfectly appropriate and healthy food for children.

What I wouldn't have been able to do was lots of physical play or chase after an errant toddler quickly in a dangerous situation.

Luckily I lost the weight and now vary between BMI 22-30ish depending on how well I'm doing. Ill struggle with my weight forever but hope to never get so big it physically constricts me again. An overweight or even lower obese nanny would be fine but I wouldn't have hired myself at my highest weight for safety reasons.

Makes them feel better about themselves, probably.

I wonder how many of them are overweight themselves.

But presumably the nanny is relatively young? She won’t have been eating a chocolate bar extra every day for 50 years to become morbidly obese. The absolute denial on here is unbelievable. ‘Oh I’m morbidly obese because I enjoy biscuits with my tea’ 🙄

But they are in a classroom sitting down not running around parks and at risk if running into a busy road. Plus if a child needed first aid they can call for assistance

I'm not morbidly obese so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be in denial 🙄

I guess I just don't find it necessary to be so unpleasantly judgemental towards a woman I know nothing about, and who hasn't even consented to having this thread written about her to begin with.

But according to this thread, one of the "issues" is that they can't get up off the floor - surely overweight teachers do that every single day?

The OP stated that it was noticed the potential nanny could not get up and down easily from the floor. That could be a concern if she was in sole charge, especially when the baby is older and moving around quickly.

People are just giving opinions to the question asked, it's not 'hatred' against obese people, it's more concerns for their child's safety posters are responding to.

No it won't it will just maintain your weight at being slightly overweight. I've been slightly overweight for years. So how come I've not turned morbidly obese then?

Indeed.

I think this thread was deliberately set up to illicit these sort of responses.

You genuinely can't think of any reasons why? It really is as simple to you as fatty bumbum = unhealthy and unfit, slim person = healthy and fit.

Different job, different life, different amounts of free time now. While I may be slim at the moment, I am absolutely nowhere near as physically fit as I was when I was over 7 stone heavier. Groundbreaking, I know.

Some have been genuine, but there is a lot of hatred towards obese people on here - comments about gluttony and fat people squashing babies

No, I don't report anybody and certainly not obese parents. None of my business as it doesnt affect me.🙄

However when hiring a nanny for a baby, I will take their fitness into account. Just like I hired a nanny who would give my kids vegetarian food as I wanted them to be raised veggie. Entirely my choice. Especially as DS was a super active toddler.

I hired a morbidly obese nanny. I had concerns about the risks of her not being able to keep up but at the time we didn’t have many applicants and her references were excellent.

no regrets. She worked for us for many years and I never saw her prepare unhealthy food. To my knowledge he never bolted but for some reason he was always much better behaved for her than for me 😆

No it won't. Maintenance calories go up the larger you are which is why taller or broader people need to eat more to stay the same weight - they have a higher basal metabolic rate (base level of calories it takes to keep your body alive). Activity calories go on top of that.

Maintenance calories for a sedentary 5'3", 22st woman is about 2,500 calories. If she ate the NHS recommended 2000cals a day plus a 200cal kitkat she would lose weight. More if she was active.

Most sedentary women don't need 2000 cals a day anyway. My sedentary maintenance is 1600cals but I'm active so more like 1900. I'm trying to lose weight at the moment so aiming for 1500.

Why would she need to consent? It's not like it names her and shows her picture? It could be about anyone! Do any of the people consent to the posts made about them on here?

Of course it was. The same goes for all the "greedy husband" threads too.

I don't think teachers generally sit on the floor

They do in early years and primary settings. Well, mine certainly did anyway, and I know several teachers and TA's who sit on the floor or kneel next to kids while they work at their desks.

I didn't say she needed to consent.

I just think that it's spectacularly unpleasant of people to make comments about her being a glutton that could squash a baby when they know absolutely fuck-all about her.

Still, it doesn't surprise me when it comes to fat threads on MN. They're always full of comments like that and the vast majority seem to think it's perfectly acceptable to be unpleasant about people's weight.

It's a forum, some people will always have a sly dig, but the majority are just voicing their own concerns if they were employing a nanny.

I don't think it's a bullying/goading thread. Had the nanny herself been the OP, it could be seen differently.

Of course it's a goading thread. Maybe not intentionally, but it is. The same applies to all the threads about greedy husbands or in-laws.

Wind 'em up, watch 'em go.

Exactly! To compare a nanny who is being paid for looking after someone else's child to a parent looking after their own child is silly. Parents can look after their own child how they want withinn reason but if you are paying someone to look after your own child you would expect the best and a high standard

Also benefits, social class, race and myriad other things are often created in the spirit of goading.

It would completely depend on the person for me (which might be difficult if you don't know her well enugh to know about her health and fitness).

I only know 2 people at that extreme level of obesity:

my mum - 70 years old, really bad knees, only one fully functioning arm, struggles to walk let alone run. No, she can't even be left alone with small children, let alone given sole care.

a friend - 31 years old, works full time, has an active (not sporty) hobby, lives up 2 flights of stairs. Ok, she has to use her hands to get up off the floor and it takes her longer but that's all. Yes, I'd employ her as a nanny.

So I couldn't answer based on a BMI estimate alone. I'd have to know the person.