hotel babysitters...not sure if this is right place for it btw

[sleeplessinstretford]

we've got to go and stay with Godzilla next week-she loathes me,i loathe her but it's dps mother (he doesn't speak to his dad or brother) and babys granny so I am pasting a smile on my chops and going with them.
I've ballsed up the traintickets basically and what was meant to be 'arriving in the new forest on Thursday at tea time and leaving Saturday morning-(first thing natch!) is now leaving Wednesday morning until Saturday evening (i've only bought really cheap,non changeable tickets)
So,i've arranged with dp to see our mutual friend who lives in london on the way down and stay with her,and on the way back i've booked us into a lovely hotel in london and emailed a few friends re meeting us in the bar for dinner/drinks in our hotel.
So,hotel does a babysitting service-i actually don't know what this means by the way-if it's someone in the room,a listening service or if we lock the door and take the monitor down stairs with us.
we aren't even sure who will come and if it's just dps best mate then we'll have dinner and i'll take the baby up to bed and stay with her (she's 22 months and has been sleeping through lately)
what do you think?
Ifeelabitkateandgerrymccannthatleavingababyinahotelroomwhileiamdownstairstohavedinnerisnegec tful.
sorry long.feedback welcome though

Normally means a sitter comes and sits in the room with them. I have done this on several occasions in the past and it has been fine. Expensive though. In London 4 years ago it was 10 quid an hour plus a taxi home if you were late....sitter was lovely though.

i don't know if leaving her with a total stranger would freak her more if she woke up (we'll be in the same building but downstairs)than if we ran up if she stirred.
Or if we don't leave her at all.
i think we'll deserve a nice meal with our friends (dp lived in london when i met him and since i had dd he's seen our friends for drinks etc and i haven't so there'll be hopefully friends who i've not seen for 3 years there)
i will certainly need several large gin and tonics (this is all hypothetical as i could be up on a murder charge if godzilla starts her usual schtick)

IME. a hotel baby service means that they listen in and let you know if there's anything up.

Could you take her pushchair down to the dinner and let her go to sleep in that if you are really worried? (that's what I would do )

she's 22 months old and just wouldn't sleep and would be howling to get out and 'run away-i am going to run away mummy' which is her favourite pastime.It would be hideous for us and no fun for her so that's a no... honest!it's a posh hotel-i doubt the other patrons would be overjoyed at my little scamps behaviour either!
i suspect i'll just wuss out and stay in the room.

Babysitting means babysitting, Baby Listening is a different thing. If they offer babysitting you will get an actual person.

I used the hotel babysitting service at Portmeirion. A lady came to the room to look after ds (10 months then). I didn't like the thought of him waking up and seeing a stranger so she came whilst he was still awake. I wouldn't do a baby listening service personally as I'd be concerned about how frequently they actually listen (plus a whole host of other concerns).

oh god,i suspect i've blown a load of cash on a nice hotel and will spend the night eating room service and weeping while dp whoops it up with our friends.kids eh?!

Message withdrawn

i do hotel babysitting a lot

normally it means that a nanny agency has gone to see the hotel, and they agree to reconmend the agency to parents who want a babysitter

all the girls will be crbed checked and have first aid

ring the hotel yourself and see what they say

i wouldnt lock the door and take monitor incase of a fire, unlikely but you never know

also often monitors wont work out of a certian distance and may not work a few floors down

sleepless just ring the hotel and ask..

We have often used a BS service in hotels to look after our twins ... its usually one of the housekeepers and so far they have all been lovely. But its expensive - I would expect £10 an hour

But as you are in the UK, you can join sitters.co.uk they will find someone local for you. We use sitters a lot for BS at home and would recommend them.

Room Service in posh hotels is really grim - you need to get out and give yourself a break

We stayed in a hotel where baby listening was a dedicated service - member of staff in corridor (only one corridor - tiny hotel) and our mobile number. I was fine with that. Last time we went away baby listening was just reception occasionally listening in on the room phone. Not fine. We got a baby sitter from Sitters who came before dd went to bed and sat in the room until we got back.

I'm not sure about the "get her used to coming to dinner" advice. Although in principle it's good for children to know how to behave in restaurants, I think that is contingent on picking the right restaurant. Lots of hotel restaurants say "no under 8s" and even those that don't can be pretty stuffy. There's a big difference between a relaxed dinner with the dcs in a restaurant where you are made to feel welcome and sitting uncomfortably desperately hoping they won't embarass you in a silver service type place. Not worth the stress IMO.

Thanks for all the advice.
I'll see who's about first before deciding if if we eat in the posh hotel (although we've eaten there before so no biggie)
maybe meeting friends at pizza express /something cheap but nice earlier in the evening with the baby is the way to go. I don't think that many 22months old are up to fine dining and i certainly don't inflict her on people having a 'treat\special'night out.
We do eat out with her and she is getting better but is not quite up to gordon ramsay yet.even if i cut her food really small...i'll play it by ear.
it is really bad to leave her alone isn't it even if we're in the bar/restaurant downstairs with the monitor with us as this is dp's preferred method of babysit btw.

The problem with the baby monitor idea is that until you get there you will not know if it works over the required distance.

We have never found anywhere where we can use the monitor.

"it is really bad to leave her alone isn't it even if we're in the bar/restaurant downstairs with the monitor with us as this is dp's preferred method of babysit btw"

yes really bad idea

A friend of mine was in a similar situation and asked the hotel if they could have dinner served in their room - so rather than room service on a tray, a table was set up with tablecloth, napkins etc and waiting staff came and served the meal. There was a small charge but the grownups had a lovely meal and the children slept through it all. If the idea appeals you could ask your hotel if they would do something similar.

I do some babysitting for www.thesuffolkbabysittingco.co.uk and have babysat in hotels. We're all checked etc.

We have to stay in the room with the child. It wasn't that expensive to book me either (£8 per hour). I've met some of the other babysitters when we've done group bookings and their all calm and experienced. I've never had a child that wont settle, just some need distracting or cuddles etc!

Hope that helps a bit for those in Suffolk!

DP and I stayed in a hotel where they gave you a monitor and a room on the ground floor 20 feet from the lobby bar and restaurant. Someone would have to walk past reception and the concierge to this specific room (nothing else in corridor).

I can't help remembering the time during my DB's wedding, when a child was in an adjoining room crying endlessly from around 10.30pm onwards. We called the room exn number and must have picked up the listening service. Called down to reception and the didn't seem to locate the parents for an age. Very upsetting. I wasn't even a mum then but we were really worried, and tired.

We've used the 'Baby Monitor' iPhone app when our standard monitors don't reach. Personally, I wouldn't use it in a busy hotel, but have used it at a conference when DD was asleep in the room and we were at the end of the corridor having dinner. It basically rings another phone when it senses noise of a pre-determined volume and duration.

If it was me, I'd choose Pizza Express with DD in tow and have drinks in the bar later (with a babysitter for a couple of hours). Good mix of socialising but with minimising the cost of using a babysitting service.

In the past we've put ds down to sleep before the babysitter arrives and then stayed in the hotel bar/restaurant. We told her where we were and to call/come down with him if she had a problem.

He slept and she sat reading a book.

I couldn't do it if leaving the hotel but being a couple of floors down was fine and I was happy that if there was an emergency there was someone there (fire evacuation being my biggest worry!). Would never do the baby monitor thing.

This was far more relaxing for us as we could meet our friends for dinner and have a nice grown up meal without keeping ds up beyond his usual bedtime. And it meant our friends didn't have to have a ridiculously early dinner at a child friendly restaurant (they were childless at the time!)

Your baby might be freaked out by seeing a stranger in the room but at least they can carry them out if there's an emergency - monitor can't do that. You've no idea how far the room might be away from the bar. Or who might have keys.

Wouldn't use baby listening. There's nobody there - what if they aren't listening at the right time? No thanks. Always prefer a real person, but then I have a 4 yo too who will always meet the sitter and can help comfort the 22 mo if he wakes.
Most services we used had a four hour minimum (like Sitters.co.uk does) - I would recommend sitters too, they are very good and efficient and have always sent me good people!

OP I live in London and sometimes sit for people staying in hotels. Mostly I sit for regular families around where I live in NW6 but if you need someone you'd like to talk to before you arrive and have a chance to check references, I'm your woman! Also, I only charge £8ph and wouldn't need a taxi home because public transport if good where I live (unless it was very very late). Let me know if I can help!