Part time nannies?

[ANM07]

We currently have a FT daily nanny looking after our 12 month old. I went back to work when she was 6 months and we felt that she would benefit from 1:1 care, sleeping in her own bed during the day... and of course, having a nanny minimises disruption at work when baby is poorly and wouldn't be able to go to nursery.
My thought is that we'd have her until our daughter is 2 (through 2 winter bug seasons), and then send our daughter to nursery as we are finding the cost absolutely crippling!

What I am now thinking is maybe we'd send our daughter to nursery 2 or 3 days a week when she turns 2, and have a nanny for 2 or 3 days per week. We think this might be a good compromise.

However, how difficult is it to find a good PT nanny? Do most nannies prefer FT? Obviously we'd offer to our current nanny first but I think she will want something FT. If we can't find someone willing to only do 2 or 3 days per week we would have to have a rethink!

Thanks

Where are you based?

Most do but it isn't to say you won't find a decent PT Nanny. You may have to be a bit more open minded though- i.e. consider hiring someone older. We let our last nanny go just before DD3 was born 4 weeks ago as i'm no longer working with DH so didn't need her- but she only wanted to work PT as she was in her late forties and was looking to wind down to retirement. She was excellent with the children- in fact, if we ever go down the nanny road again i'm going to consider someone older over someone younger for certain. Maybe consider a nanny with their own child too- someone who is wanting extra household cash without it going on childcare for their own child!

I will say though- despite me having a full time nanny all my children (and DD3 will) went to nursery for 2 days a week from 2- more so they could socialise with other children more than anything else. But obviously that is a decision for you to make.

I do think you are worrying for nothing though!

I always see the socialisation thing and it makes me ponder. I was a nursery nurse [room leader] at a nursery for a couple of years and then went into nannying and I see the socialisation of the children as typically the same - just with more opportunities to form closer attachments within a nanny environment

Eg when I started my charge 2 went to nursery 3 mornings a week and spent the rest of the time with me.

At nursery he spent the day in 1 room with a mixture of different adults and was left to fend/play by himself, they would have a snack and story time plus lunch but on the whole the children played with each other with a minimal amount of toys and occasionally do an art activity.

At home we had playdates with his friends, visited families with older/younger children, went on trips out, enjoyed toddler groups - the same idea as a nursery but with the parents helping the children do the activities/do the art.

He had the same opportunities to socialise but on a different scale - more 1 on 1 with close friends, the opportunity to play in large groups - as he got older a group of 5 of them used to love forraging in the woods together - working together towards a goal of den making etc. He learnt how to play and socialise in a formal environment ie a toddler gorup where none of the toys belonged to anyone, to his home where all the toys were his to friends homes where none of the toys were... He formed attachments with other adults,

I'm a part time Nanny. I do 3 12-13 hr days as I work for Surgeons. The children I look after (4&2) go to nursery on one of the other days & have a day at home with Mummy. She chose to do four longer days at work & have a Nanny for 3 & then nursery so they can socialise with their age groups separately. I am always on standby on their nursery day for when they are unwell.

It works for me as I am still doing roughly the same amount of hours as my old nursery job but for more pay, so although I only work 3 days I actually have more money coming in.

Can you be flexible on days? There are many nannies down here that do two jobs (or more) as there isn't much full time available. I do two at the moment, the newer job was flexible on one day or three days and the other two days happened to suit my other three day a week job, so it worked out well.

I'm a young nanny (24) and do prefer the different families as it adds a good deal of variety to my week, I can do SEN work and a normal Nanny/housekeeper job at the same time, both of which are very tiring and can be quite repetitive/boring for very different reasons so it stops me getting bored too!

lots of good excellent part time nannies about, myself included

i dont want to work 5 days and i can cope financially on 3 :) but not 2 days a week - better to have 3 days in a row and ideally mon/tue/wed as easier to find a thur/fri job if they need to work 5 days, then a spilt week, but doesnt mean that they cant iyswim