What does nanny do during baby naps?

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We are looking to employ a nanny for our 10 month old. One of the things we are wondering about is - what does a nanny do while the baby naps (at home)? Our DC naps around 1-1.5 hours in the morning, and 1.5-2 hours in the early afternoon.

I understand nannies usually do baby laundry and ironing, and tidy away used baby items, but this wouldn't take up 3+ hours every single day... we don't want to pay a nanny to sit around while baby naps (this happened a while ago when we trialled a nanny).
Is it reasonable to expect her to do some light housework like emptying the dishwasher, and prepping some meals etc (we have a cleaner so wouldn't expect her to do a full on clean)?

Except getting on with the housework isn't the nanny's job

As an ex nanny and someone who paid for childcare I think it’s really important you understand you are trusting the most important thing in your life to you someone else. Why wouldn’t you hire someone you like and trust? If you see it as “ a pay by the hour job” that’s who’re you’re going to get. See it as someone is really doing you a massive service and you’re more likely to get someone decent.

Wow - you sound extremely entitled ☹️ “We have a cleaner so she won’t have to do a full on clean” - That’s really good of you OP.

I was a Nanny in my 20's and my experience lead me to never ever want to do it again. They paid me very little and shortly after starting they "reminded" me I should be cleaning, ironing, hoovering etc.. This wasn't just the children's things but parents also. I was studying too and took online lectures which eventually I wasn't allowed to do whilst looking after the children even if they were sleeping.

Anyway if I was to get a Nanny myself, I would allow them to spend their time to eat, grab a drink, catch up on her personal life and prep baby's snacks and lunch. I would never have a stressed Nanny secretly resenting me and then looking after my child!

Maybe you need to reread the job specification of a Nanny and also the importance of having a good relationship with her for child's sake

We had a nanny for 7 years...the same one for 7 years. We left her to her own devices and as long as she kept our children safe, she was worth every penny.
Trust works both ways.

"we don't want to pay a nanny to sit around while baby naps"

Good luck finding a Nanny OP!

Lol you can’t be for real? She isn’t a slave …🤦‍♀️

It's not like the person can go out and spend the time doing what she wants. You are paying her to be there, you are occupying her time, therefore they would be working ( whether you keep her constantly busy or not).

Presumably she continues looking after your child? Unless she's OK to leave the house for an hour she's still doing her job whether she's standing or sitting. If you were paying for a nursery there would be far less than 1:1 supervision and the staff would still take regular breaks. Some activity set up and cleaning up from what she's done in the morning would be a reasonable expectation but if I was a nanny I wouldn't be getting involved in tasks and activities outside of my own direct field of work - the baby. If you were a call centre operator and not on a call you wouldn't be expected to go off and start cleaning the toilets - and call centres don't exactly have a great rep for how they treat employees, lol.

Any sort of clean is an unacceptable ask, unless it’s just after herself/the baby.

While the baby is asleep, the nanny can have a break/do things for the baby. They’re in the house primarily to be an available, responsible adult when the baby is asleep, they don’t have to be running around busy the whole time. I think you need to adjust your expectations.

This is true @PurplePansy05

Tho recently I keep
Seeing on childcare esp that they want someone to iron while kids asleep and pay a sitting on bum rate v housework babysitting rate

Needless to say I don't do these kind of families

I wouldn’t like you to be my boss. She isn’t doing nothing she is still watching over your child and for me I wouldn’t expect a nanny to do ANYTHING else other than baby related things. You’re not paying her to just sit around she still has to make sure your child is safe

Our nanny did a bit of tidying, dishwasher. I treated her like a responsible adult looking after my precious children though, so I didn't tot up her time as if she was a factory worker who needs to clock in...

when I was at home with my baby and the baby was napping I would cook, clean, do all light houseworks. I had a nanny with the second who was a mum (although the children were grown up) who did just that, the beds would be re-done, dishwasher emptied or filled, washing machines for the whole family filled or emptied, food prepared for the whole family. Of course not heavy cleaning (floor, windows, bathroom) but the usual chores we do everyday. Not all of them and not everyday bit when she had time she just would do it. She had lunch break but had enough time to fit something everyday. If she had not time she would do less and it was fine, obviously baby came first. She also went to several baby classes and to the park so she was out a lot.
but many nannies do not want to do that, it is obviously easier to rest for 3-4 hours a day while baby sleeps, they are paid anyway especially in the Uk they find work even doing just baby tasks.
so reality is if you want to keep a nanny in this country with the scarcity there is, you pay them to rest 3-4 hours a day and just thank them that at least they do it (hopefully) well while the baby is awake!

You werent "burned" by the previous nanny. They cared for the child during naps, which, with a sleeping baby, means essentially being "on call".

Just like night nannies and baby sitters are paid to be there when children are asleep. Just like you still pay the nursery for the time your child is there napping.

After I cleaned and tidied anything to do with the children, I did homework as I was in college. As the children got older, the naps got less long or disappeared. 'Not paying her to sit around' - you sound very mean.

Ps i do think its reasonable to expect tidying of playroom, perhaps running a load of baby laundry, sterilising a few bottles etc. But its not on you to speculate that that happens while baby naps and essentially require that she never sits down for a break for more than 10 mins. Here in the UK we have this lovely thing called "employment rights".

Twenty plus years ago, when I had a nanny, I had a nanny with a small child of her own, 18m older than mine. Often nanny's DC was at home with dad depending on his shifts (police officer) but it was always made clear that she was welcome to bring Dc to work as often as needed, so it worked around our much younger child; we bought a swing early, knowing it would be needed, to amuse the older child. Sometimes, DC went to her house. She didn't do housework, but she kept life in order and handed DH a clean tidy sleepy baby when he got home, and put a bottle in DH's other hand so when I arrived back after an 18 hour day of travel and work, both were fast asleep.

then on with all the housework.

Don’t be ridiculous 🙄

I used to be a nanny, never did any housework, only tidied up after myself and the child. Sometimes would do batch cooking but after a month or so of starting, the baby only slept for an hour and I had to take at least an hour lunch break so that came to a halt. Never had any problems and was a nanny for 10 years for a few different families. Your nanny is not a housekeeper and she’s not a third parent, it’s her job to take of the child and get paid to do so whether the child is asleep or not.

Baby related housework? Washing clothes and food prep and cleaning up will be plenty to keep busy. As far as I'm aware that's what my friends nannies all do or else you'd come home to a bombsite? Otherwise what's the point, may as well go to nursery (well when the baby is a little bit older anyway)

You sound nightmare employers tbh. A nanny is there for childcare, not housekeeping. If the baby is asleep she can kick back with a coffee and her mobile phone for bit - soon enough baby won’t be taking such long naps. Honestly though - having a responsible person care for your child is the work, they are not obliged to run themselves ragged because you don’t like the idea of someone sitting down while you pay them.

I used to do a bit of supply teaching at our local school. One day we went on a trip for the morning to the theatre. The school tried to wriggle out of paying me for that morning because " I was sat down watching the performance and not actually teaching the children." They were still my responsibility.