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)?

Thst lady paragraph made me snort 😂

Last* obviously 🙊

You would hate me OP..I have 6(!!) free hours a day of being paid when my charges are at school :) the family I work for respect me and pay me for my time so I'm available for their children if it's needed. Because of this respect I have been there for many years and I'm at work happy and my best self whilst caring for them. When the children were babies it was the same with naps and nursery and it's never questioned what I do in the free time. As long as their children are cared for and happy and the person caring for them is happy that's all they care about. I've been a constant in the children's lives for a number of years now and I've stuck around because I've been respected and cared for by them. If I was to work 11-12 hour days with no time to wind down then I'd be burnt out extremely quickly and wouldn't hang around there long.

I see families like you who have gone through a number of nannies and they want to squeeze every penny and make them do all sorts of things...these nannies never stick around long and move on to places like I've mentioned above.

We work really long hours and deserve a break. I'm sure you get a break at your job too! How would you feel if you didn't?

Perhaps Op could simply switch the nanny off at the start of the baby's nap, then switch her back on when the baby wakes...

Tbf 6 free hours seems insane if you are paid and don't do anything in that time. But if you're both happy with that arrangement as you obviously are, good on you.

Yes the nanny can do child related chores

Their washing ironing - tidying their toys /playroom

Cooking for freezer

But yes also a nanny. Deserves an hour break. To have lunch in peace

Your child won't sleep forever

So no to light household duties /housework

Nannies don't study for 2years and go to college and do assessments and observations to go and clean your toilet /floor

I think YABU and they wouldn't be just "sitting around". Some people CAN do their job "sitting down" I think and her job is to provide safety for the child and be paid for those hours as you can't in those hours be there, which is fine, too. I am curious over what you DO during the day that leaves you having to hire said Nanny over duties. Do you get to "sit down" over your job? Also, I assume there's no real paid breaks over the role so I would see fair to give herself a break over a not real break as it's "on call" the whole time, anyway, isn't it?

Can I ask what the difference in pay is? I am in this set up- I am the career nanny. House is spotless, I cook , clean, manage the family diary etc etc. Other nanny is only one day a week and a uni student, she's super fun but does not do any chores. We are on the sam hourly rate....

Agree with @skyandsurf some of these answers are ridiculous. Just talk to a professional agency. Also remember the most important thing will be the person so you might make compromised based on this, and you generally get what you pay for

Why are you doing it? Why are you being an all round servant for the same money as a uni student doing some babysitting in their spare time? I would say negotiate a pay rise but unfortunately I think you need to start as you mean to go on. Now they’re used to you being their cook and cleaner and PA so they’ll likely expect that. I’d be handing notice and looking for a nanny position.

Oh I forgot to mention on my previous post, the family I work for actually tell me not to even worry about dishes and sort of jokingly tell me off when I do them while they aren’t home!

I'm there on call so yes I'm paid and once everything related to my job is done the time is my own

@CPHB2021

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you feel comfortable raising that with your employer and asking for an increase.

I'm in Australia so I don't know how relevant our rates are to you. The legislative entitlement for a nanny is $29p/h, we pay our career nanny $48 p/h, and our uni student nanny who does one a day a week $35p/h.

We raise our nannies pay every year, they've never had to ask for an increase. But I know other employers who wait for their nannies to ask for more pay, which I think is poor form on the employer's part. You are completely entitled to ask for an increase and I hope you do.

Do you have any data about what other nannies in your area earn for performing similar tasks?

Sounds like most of the poster responding have never had a nanny. I have and whilst they obviously do take breaks, they are still very capable and usually do some light tasks mostly baby or child oriented. Breaks yes absolutely but relax for 3 hours? No.

It's all about flexibility and communication, some days will be easy, baby sleep well and others jobs will get done, other days won't pan out the same and that's ok too.

Nobody has said she should relax for 3 hours. Everyone has agreed she should use some of the time to do child based tasks, or ‘nursery duties.’ Literally everyone. They’ve said it’s appropriate to do baby’s laundry, plan and set up activities, clean and organise toys, and clean up after the baby’s lunch/meals. They’ve said it isn’t appropriate for her to do op’s personal tasks such as cook and clean for her.

As a pp said nobody is expecting the nanny not to do anything, however squeezing every last minute out of a childcarers time is counter productive they don't have to be prepping parents meals or emptying dishwashers.

Anything child related; cook kids meals, kids laundry, tidy kids rooms. Most won’t do general light housework.

I’d also expect them to answer door to take deliveries. Have asked to pick up dry cleaning / prescriptions if going for a wall anyway.

It sounds like the nanny option is not a good fit your you. You seem to be more interested in getting your moneys worth & micromanaging which is going to cause you no end of issues keeping a nanny who will put up with that.

either chill out or you & your partner need to start looking at other options

Our nanny mostly reads a book. Sometimes she watches the TV. She also makes lunch for herself and the kids.

You know when you employ someone for a chunk of the day they are entitled to breaks? Most nannies take their break when the baby naps. How else do you expect them to do it???

Like most jobs, there are up and downtimes. They get to take more breaks when little one is small. But they don't stay small for long! One of the advantages of a nanny is that you hope to get good continuity of care through baby/toddler/preschool years, and the naps do drop off. I've also never heard of a nanny complaining when sometimes they don't get a break - one of our twins was unwell for a while and she often had to hold him for his nap when his cough was bad, as if he lay down he's start coughing again and wake himself. Or there have been one or two occaisions when our twins have napped at different times (again, usually down to illness throwing their routine), so that kills her time alone.

A good nanny probably will spend some of nap time tidying up from the morning or prepping an activity for the afternoon. But you will seriously destroy any goodwill by leaving her with a list of chores.

We don't ask ours to do laundry beyond chucking anything that for dirty in the basket. I'd much rather she was well rested so in the afternoon she has the energy to take them to the playground etc.

God I’d HATE to work for you. That’s so mealy mouthed.

"DC was much younger and therefore napping for 5-6 hours a day"
Why didn't you take your DC to work with you then? Seeing as they slept so much.

Happy Nanny, happy child …

A few months from now the chances are that the child won’t sleep for quite so long.

I had a friend who made lists for her Au pair to use while the LO slept .Strangely the girl (from Europe) didnt last very long and went home after a few months! Looking after babies is hard work .Surely you have a lunch break or tea break at work.The Nanny may make a tea,have her lunch and use her phone .All while keeping an ear out for babe waking up.Then both feeling refreshed and ready for their afternoon together

I don't think anyone on this thread is begrudging a nanny having a break for lunch or making herself a tea. OP's nanny has 3.5 hours a day of being in the house while the baby sleeps. It makes sense to use her work time productively if that's what can be agreed.

I worked as a receptionist back in the day and when no one was in reception or calling the phone I would attend to a list of non-reception tasks like filing, printing letters, etc to lighten the load of the admin staff. I didn't feel exploited I felt like I was contributing and adding value.

Its normal to use work time productively within reason. Who wants to sit around twiddling their thumbs anyway?