Can you share you experiences/advice regarding Au Pairs for babies?

[Marinetta]

I will be returning to work when my son is 11 months old and although he will be attending nursery there are a few hours per day where we will need additional childcare and I am very interested in hiring an Au Pair to cover childcare for 3 hours per day. I would prefer an au pair over additional hours in nursery as we are a multilingual family and feel my son would benefit from the language exposure and also because I think my son will be more comfortable being in his own home. But I also have reservations about letting an Au Pair (usually someone with no childcare qualifications) look after such a young child. Does anyone have any experience with having an Au Pair for such a young child and would be willing to share their opinion? Thank you.

I don't think au pairs are supposed to look after babies so you would need to hire a nanny if you're doing things by the book.

If you're going to ignore the book, I strongly advise you to find someone on recommendation to look after such a young child.
You need to be absolutely confident in whoever is looking after your baby.

I had a 17 year old look after my baby for a few hours a week but I already knew her and her family well and I trusted her implicitly (more than some of the fully fledged adults in our lives) to look after DD.

I would also think carefully about how your DS will feel, having been away from you for hours on end, to then be looked after by someone else. Settling in at nursery is a big deal and handling it carefully will pay off. I made sure DD was well settled at nursery before I had anyone else collect her at the end of the day.

My hunch is that it could be very unsettling for a baby to have two different childcare settings in one day. Maybe better to get nursery established first and then think about an au pair once he turns 2...

Most nurseries are open a good 10 hours a day, but you need more? I don't think a short term arrangement like an au pair is suitable for a baby.
Could you do some language lessons at the weekend /day off instead?
Maybe the nursery has language classes?

How easy is it to come by the language you want?

Thanks for the input so far. Obviously there are a lot of things to take in to consideration and most importantly I want to do the best for my son but my working hours don't coincide with the nursery timetable so unfortunately I will have to rely on additional childcare in some shape or form.
Just to clarify I need aditional childcare from 6am until 9am. I start work at 7am and leave the house at 6.30 so need someone to sit in the house until the baby wakes up and then give him breakfast, get him dressed and take him to nursery for 9. I'll be picking him up from nursery at 3pm so we can spend a few hours together in the afternoon.
I have the option to work 9.00-18.30 but that would mean I would pre and post nursery childcare as the nursery closes at 17.00 and if I'm getting home at 19.00 I would have very limited time with my son before he goes to bed which would be a shame.
I was hoping to find a german speaking Au Pair. We live in a small spanish town where there are no other options for learning German as the focus in language learning is on English.

Ooph, you location definitely changes your options! You say "we", is there no option of the other person doethe early childcare shift?

I had au pair's since my son was 9 months old who helped with wrap around care for nursery. The first was age 27 and did a good job of giving him milk, changing nappies etc.

You don't need a nanny - an au pair with her head screwed on is just fine. I'd go for an older one to be more confident they could cope.

You need a nanny.

Hello! We had an au pair looking for our 5 month old baby in the mornings and it worked really well. She was a bit older than the usual age for au pairs, I think, around 24-25, had already completed her degree in her country, was very mature and responsible, spoke our native language and stayed with us a long time. Our kids adored her. If you choose well, I would recommend it. For us, the au pair was much better than one fully qualified nanny that we hired through an agency. Good luck!

Hi, many many years ago, I was an au pair (I am originally from Germany). I was 19 at the time and looked after a 3 months and 3 year old. Two full days (10 hours each day) and a half day. I had experience from looking after my baby niece and my age was never a problem. You just need to find someone who has a bit of experience. I use now au pairs for my kids (from when they were 12 months onwards) and had really good experiences.
It makes things easier to have someone in the house, also if your child falls ill.
Good luck.

Hi I have had 5 au pairs over 9 years and always had great experiences, make sure you spend lots of time with them and don't leave them alone too soon and it can be a fantastic way to spend more time with the family. Because you can choose your own hours. My first au pair was 25 and amazing but I also had an aupair that was 18 that was so sensible for her age .
Ask lots of questions before and check they are coming for the right reasons. I always used aupairworld.com

Thank you for sharing your experiences. It's nice to hear that you have had positive experiences with Au Pairs. I was expecting a lot of horror stories but I've been pleasantly surprised.