Childcare 14 month twins

[SS1983]

Hello,

Wondering if anyone can guide me please.

I am looking for some ad hoc childcare for my 14 month old twins. I am not sure if it is a nanny / babysitter / childminder

Looking for someone to help me a couple weekday evenings and on a ad hoc basis.

Essentially I am looking for someone who my babies can get used to, and can help look after them on some evenings when we both have to work, and ad hoc too - just for some relief to be honest.

Therefore, not looking for a full time day or night nanny, or a childminder (they are at nursery / with myself or my parents during the day)

Can anyone recommend any sites, agencies please? I have tried childcare.co.uk wihtout much luck

As it is mostly evenings, I would say Babysitter.

Have you tried your local community Facebook group? Sometimes you can find people that way. It may suit a local teenager... it's the sort of thing I did in my late teens. It may suit a college student. It may suit someone a lot older, be open to having anyone who your twins gel with.

ChildcareCoUk is where I get most of my work, so I'm surprised you have not found anyone that way. Try rewriting your profile to make it clear what you are looking for, give examples of working hours, give indication of how much you can pay. Search local childcarers and send them a message if they look like someone looking to work those ad-hoc hours.

Couple of weekday evenings - that may be putting people off. They may not want to commit to doing specific evenings each week. If it was all ad-hoc, then it may be more appealing... and would fit more with self employment, than you getting involved in being an employer.

Thank you ! Yes maybe I will change my profile and not be specific about couple evenings. Because yes, general feedback is more looking for full time work. I’ll look more under the Babysitter category - thank you

Could you swap a day that your parents provide childcare to a nursery day and then use parents on a more ad-hoc basis instead? You might feel more able to ask them for evenings if they aren't providing care during the day?

@thinkningaboutit my parents always help, they never say no. I actually worry they are doing too much and that is why I am looking. They are older (over mid 70's) and are always there when husband and I have to work late, or when they are sick (which is so often lately). Twins do go to nursery 4 days (one half) and I look after one full day. We pick them up earlier given they are there nearly full time and my parents look after them.

14 months is a tough age, as they are walking and full of energy. Feeding etc is tough. I'd like some professional help so that they can just enjoy them. I am in process of trying to find a role that is more UK friendly hours too.

I meant to add, my parents don't look after them as an alternative to nursery for a full day

Ah I see. I get you want your parents to enjoy them rather than use as childcare. Especially if it's more structured care you need.

I hope you get something from childcare.co.uk - it's tricky when it's not so set.

Locally, our final year school and uni students offer babysitting on the community Facebook page, again not professional but maybe a starting point.

Thank you! I will give facebook and childcare.co.uk another go (will reword my profile to hopefully not limit it so much)

Thanks again

I did a role very similar to this when I was at university. If you have a local university maybe you could ask them if you can post to their jobs board?

Have you asked at nursery. O e of the you ger staff there might be interested - or they might know someone?

@LittleOwl153 for some reason I had never even thought of that , thank you for suggesting ! I called them and indeed they have a list of staff who do babysitting. Couple girls there who are in the twins room, so its a great start.

I don’t know if it is my babies and they are not as sociable, but they hardest part and often why I don’t persevere with looking is that they have a lot of stranger anxiety and would take a while for them to get used to someone. Nursery staff is perfect - it’s the one place they go in smiling when they open the door (as long as it’s one of their room workers at the door !)

You could try the app Bubble. It has babysitters, nannies etc on there and you can see what you are looking for and people respond. You can speak to them in advance etc. I used it in a emergency when we had no childcare for our twins and it worked well.

Thanks you @BuffyFanForever , I downloaded that actually and not used it. How old are your twins please ?