Pregnant nanny! And NWOC advice please

[girasol]

Hello

Our nanny is (rather unexpectedly) pregnant, so we find ourselves on that well-trodden path. Yay(!)

We know the legal side (must allow her time off for mat appointments, have to pay mat pay and keep her job open for her, don't have to allow her back with her own child.).

I'd be really grateful for any advice anyone has on all this, and in particular your experiences in finding maternity cover, and also on letting her return to work with her baby, assuming she wants this.

I think hubby and I are open to this (we want after school and school holiday cover which is tricky to find, and better the devil you know and all that) but we're alive to at least some of the pitfalls - need to re-baby-proof our home, fact she may not want to come to work if baby ill etc.

She lives a good half hour drive away which is fine at the moment but could be an issue with a baby.

Anyway, any tips or guidance very gratefully received - eg am I right in thinking we may need to pay for stairgates etc (need to provide a safe working environment) but she should provide baby equipment she may need here such as high chair or travel cot?

And if she takes kids out in the holidays to, eg, local kids farm - she would pay any entrance charge for her kid?

Our kids will be 9 and 7 by the time she comes back of mat leave, by way of background.

Thanks in advance!

Hi, NWOC here, so I can give my side of things. Please don't say she can come back with her baby if you feel it's only grudgingly, it's not a positive thing for anyone! My employer was on board with me returning with my baby but then their personal situation changed and it was no longer doable, so I found a new role.

I took with me a high chair that clips onto a chair (we put it in the cupboard under the stairs at weekends), a travel stairgate and a travel cot which I would pop up and down each day. When she was older my employer suggested I could just let her nap in their eldest's bed which made my life a lot easier! My daughter is really flexible in her routine and where she would fall asleep and I combination fed which made life easier, obviously that's up to your nanny!

I'm now in a different role as I was made redundant after a few years, and my daughter is now a bit older, but it's still working well. When we book outings etc I pay for my daughter and my employer pays for me and her children. For me, the set up works really well, my DD loves my nanny kids and vice versa, I'm super grateful to have an arrangement that works so well and in return my employers get a lot of loyalty and flexibility. It doesn't work for everyone though, I see a lot of posts here where people talk about their own experiences resentfully, so make sure you're all on the same page!

Thanks @SuperDuperJezebel. We honestly wouldn't be letting our nanny back with her child grudgingly! I'm just conscious that it does bring with it potential complications that don't exist now - mainly for our nanny (eg the commute) so keen that if we go down this route we all have our eyes open.