Short-term night nannies... is there such a thing?

[MrsBigD]

I haven´t had much ´me´ time over the last 5 years so dh had kindly agreed to me going on holiday on my own twice this year. Isn´t he a darling!?

Am on day 3 of my first stint atm, which intailed 4 glorious nights of unbroken sleep and a cup of tea drunk in peace and quiet in the morning as well as of course typing here on mn without one of the kids wanting to clamber up and also use the PC. Kids are 4.5y and nearly 2.

So far poor dh hasn´t gotten much slepe due to of course kids being a bit more difficult to handle with mama not there and he´s already shattered and popping ´kalms´ so not to throttle them ;)

End of September I´ll be gone for 7 nights and i fear he might not ´survive´ that long also having ot go to work during the week.

After all the above I am wondering whether there is such a person who comes in for a few nights trying to settle kids throughout so that dh can get sleep? Do they exist? If so how much do ´they´ charge?

We don´t have family where we are so can´t ask nanna or gramps to take over for a bit. Actually it´s ´nana´ I´m going on holiday´s with in September

MrsBigD ...
I am sure there are night nannies - bet they cost a fortune though ... but if you have the cash it may be worth it.
I am tempted, however, to say that you should tell your DH to stop being a wuss and get on with it. I think the phrase "Welcome to my life ... " came to my lips when I came home after a day out (working, mind you, not 'me time') and he was totally stressed and frazzled

Poopy is spot on. Tell you Dh that you are going back to work full time and he'll be doing 1/2 of the childcare runs from now on. Whe he turns what, say "just kidding but I am going to the mumsnet x-mas meet up and will see you the next day because I'm staying the night in London with the girls.

"When he turns white..." (not "what")

can´t really complain about dh as he does regularly get up for the kids even when I´m there. And also he does dinner for them when I go to the gym a few times a week after he got home.

Just seems that they are worse for going to sleep (dd only went down at 2200 instead of normal 2000 last night) when I´m not there So was thinking of trying to give him some respite when I´m gone for the whole week... I´ve already suggested he go somewhere on his own at some stage as well, but he won´t... but that´s another story

TBH, MrsBigD ... wouldn't your children be MORE unsettled if a stranger was putting them to bed? Mine would think it was really strange for Daddy to be there and a nanny put them to bed ...

Maybe he should give the 'kalms' to the kids.

good point poopy, now who do I know who the kids know... bummer they´ve all moved abroad... probably because they were afraid they´d be roped in for babysitting duties

and

good idea Uwila

I think I´ll go out now for a leisurly stroll around the shops, followed by a very unhealthy and fattening bavarian lunch

go on tell me you hate me! ;)

Seriously, he doesn't need an expensive night nanny. He just needs a break. So, a low cost babysitter to come over and do say the 6:00 onwards while he goes out to eat or something would prbably do the trick.

Kids play up when their routine is broken, and yours are seeing what they get away with. Just being normal kids.

However, he still doesn't get any pity from me. I KNOW you do most of the work.

hmmm now that IS a good idea Uwila, now why didn´t I think of that? Guess Wayyyyyyyyyy to relaxed atm ;)

Enjoy your bavarian brekkie. I am jealous. Think I'll go make my porridge now.

like all the posts so far but i do know that the agency we used for our nanny has "flying squad" emergency nannies for short term placements - they say they can get a nanny on the way to you in 30 minutes - how tempting . would imagine most nanny agencies do the same thing.

Im a nanny and i do this sort of thing.

You dont say whay part of the country you're in. I live in Croydon, surrey and the average rate of pay here is £7 per hour

Jules I´m in West London so a bit of a hike for you

The children are 4.5 and 2yrs, they are not babies, so should not need a night nanny / maternity nurse, as I do not feel they should be waking a lot during the night.

With mummy gone, the children will want daddy around, so they will prefer it if he puts them to bed. However, once in bed, a babysitter or evening nanny could take over, so daddy can go out and have a nice meal, watch a football match on big screen TV , go to Cinema, Gym, Swimming Pool or whatever he wants to do to get some 'him time'.

If the issue is more that the children DO wake up frequently during the night, then perhaps that is a general issue, rather than just being unique to when mummy or daddy are away.

To answer the specific question, yes you can get night nannies / maternity nurses, who will cover a night shift - say 10pm-6am. They will charge somewhere in region of £8-£12 an hour I expect.
For SW London, there is an agency which would charge £100 per night, plus agency booking fee of 15 per night, plus introduction fee of £117. Hours would be 9pm-7am.
So, if it's say for 7 nights, I make it: £922
Care provided for 10 hours per night, makes it just over £13 per hour.
Clearly it will be less if DH copes for some of the nights on his own.

nannynick it would be the ´him time´ scenario you described. dd generally sleeps through and ds usually wakes once or twice a night atm

and they only seem to be night owls when mama is away... if papa is away overnight they´re sleeping patterns don´t really change besides dd sneaking into bed with me on the odd occasion

spoken to dh today and he sounds in ´better spirits´ guessing the Kalms have kicked in

For £100/night they are more than welcome at my house! In fact, we take them for the whole week for £500, and I'll split the profits with my nanny. She can have them in the day, and I'll have them at night. £250 for wach of us. Do you pay in cash?

Uwila you value your sleep too much! Also can´t really pull dd out of school can I now

Well take her to school (of course!)

HER school? not quite on your way to work. But I appreciate the thought

Seriously, just land a babysitter to give your DH a break at the high stress times, meal time, bed time, etc. My sister used to have friend put her dd to bed because she always behaved for srangers, whereas she was comfortable with her own mum and dad and would act up for them.

I think I´ll look into that. Will ask some of the other mum´s in school if they know a reliable baby sitter. Probably could even ´borrow´ one of the nannies there ... ´think think think´

I do temp nannying but think from your description that really a standard baby sitter to settle children and give MrBigD some down time would see everyone more settled and may lead to more Mr&MrsBigD together out time between your jaunts?

When I first started nannying, I did some night nannying to fit round my schedule, but as above it sounds like you need a babysitter you & the kids are comfortable with.

I'd reccommend getting someone known to them, or make sure they meet her a few times before, as evenings/night times can be very disorientating for kids

MrsBigD - I've only just seen this thread - I think I live near you - my nanny babysits for local families and has several qualified friends who do the same, they charge £7 per hour, and are CRB checked nursery workers or former nursery workers. I can ask her to ask around if you like. I'm bluebeartwobearsDELETETHIS@ yahoo.co.uk