Au pair or some sort of "on call" childcare?

[Lj8893]

I am potentially beginning a job which will include a lot of on calls. It will be a big move for our whole family and so DH would be changing jobs too, ideally he will find a job that doesn't include evenings but unfortunately the nature of his profession means he's likely to have to work some evenings.

School runs shouldn't be an issue (we may have to use after school care on some occasions) but what is the best option to cover my on calls when DH is at work? I don't really need to have the childcarer there as I may not actually be called out but I need something on standby if that makes sense.

Do I need an Au pair (and if so please talk to me about the changes this does to the family dynamic) or is there some sort of "on call" nanny service I could look into?

I originally posted in chat and was recommended to post here just in case you think you have seen the post elsewhere!

I can't comment on aupairs but I do some on calls as part of my work. In my role if I'm called they need me asap. Normally I can role out of bed, dress and in my car in under 5 minutes. If I had to then call someone else and wait for them it might add up to half an hour. I appreciate it depends on the role, and yours may be more forgiving.

In my own circumstances I don't do frequent on calls. I was able to swap and plan my on calls for when DH was home, but if I hadn't I came to the conclusion I would have pay for a babysitter to sleep over (was going to find a teen).

Thankyou, I think the teenager babysitter may work.

However, DH has informed me he wishes to change career and actually the career he wants to change to is very unlikely to include evenings or weekends woooo!! So that's our problem solved!

When my dh was on call and I was away on business, he swapped his on call days with people in his team. Inevitably it was a bad deal, they would get to be on call on a Monday and they would hand him back a Friday or Saturday
He was pretty pleased when my travelling job stopped....