Nanny and sick children

[Cinai2]

I’m new to this…when is it reasonable for a nanny to cancel due to sickness of the child? Mine cancelled for today because the baby has a cold (running nose, bit coughing/sneezing but not that often). No temperature, eats and is happy overall.
What’s the threshold in terms of illnesses and would I still need to pay her if she decides to cancel because of that?

I assume you mean her child? I would never expect a nanny to cancel because of your child’s illness- that’s the main benefit of having a nanny! Bomb proof child care

No, my baby is (very mildly I’d say) ill and she said she doesn’t want to risk catching anything because it would affect her other childminding work

She’d be a part time nanny for us due to start this week but now I’m wondering if that’s reasonable or if this would just cause more problems down the line

My nanny (full time) would never cancel however ill my children are, including helping take care of one of them in hospital with RSV. That's the main benefit of nanny over nursery / childminder.

I can't imagine the circumstances where my nanny would cancel because of DC's illness - certainly not for a common cold. Actually, we told her to stay away once when DS1 had D&V overnight, but that was because she was going on holiday the next day and we didn't want to potentially ruin that for her. Under normal circumstances I would have expected her to come.

Edited to add: to be fair though, we have a nanny because DS2 has a health condition and we have said to her that we don't want her looking after other children that are sick. However, that was all negotiated from the start, and she was willing to only work for us if taking on other jobs was a deal breaker.

I would find another nanny.

Thanks, my feeling was that she’d bring unreasonable, I just needed a sense check because it’s the first time for me working with a nanny

In 19 years of nannying, the ONLY time I have ever not gone into work when a child is sick is when one had viral meningitis and I was due to visit a very sick and immunocompromised friend that weekend. Otherwise Ive worked through them all...and have an excellent immune system to show for it now!

Part of paying the premium for a nanny is the reliability that if your child is sick and you need to work, you can.

As others have said OP - this is not a good sign.

People hire nannies to provide extra support and contingency for just these type of things - being able to provide a parental-style responsibility and have reliable childcare for illness etc when other settings like nursery might not accept them.

I think this is where very part time nannies struggle. Understandably they are worried about compromising other jobs, but it is also much easier to cancel if it is “only” 4-6 hrs. I have seen people struggle ++ with after school childcare because of this (not directly relevant to OP)

If i cancelled just for a cold i would never be at work .

One of the key reasons to have a nanny over nursery for me was still having childcare over most mild childhood illnesses. I would certainly expect my nanny to work when baby had a mild cold.

She doesn’t sound like the right fit for you.

Definitely don’t go ahead with her, this is very unreasonable of her and as others have said, one of the primary reasons to have a nanny is so you can still work when your kids are sick. Babies and toddlers literally have a cold every other week in the first few years. My nanny turns up when kids are sick, when she’s sick, basically all the time unless it’s an actual emergency. Given I’m expected to do the same for my job I need a nanny who is on the same page.

How old is your baby? Cos once they're a toddler, that won't even register as ill. It'll just be a default state unless they're properly poorly!

Is she employed by you, or self employed?

If she's self employed then she can pick and choose when she works.

Apart from anything else, in her first week you would expect her to be trying to impress you, if this is the way she plays her first week, imagine what she'd be like a few months in

I’m a childminder so not experienced with being or using a nanny, I won’t turn a child away with a simple cold though. A temperature would be different but I’d never be open if I turned away every sniffle and snotty nose! Now that the weather has changed and it’s allergy season the snot continues 🤣

A nanny cares for children who have normal childhood illness. So this seems a bit odd. Babies and toddlers can have near constant sniffles, as they are coming into contact with infections their immune system has not encountered before.

The one time my nanny didn't come to work because of a child's illness, my youngest had chicken pox, which she'd never had and I wasn't going to be responsible for exposing her to as an adult. She must have looked after them with common colds approximately 7,823,297 times. I can't see how a nanny for a small child could possibly function effectively if she doesn't work when the child has a cold.

Colds are fine

It wouldn’t be appropriate to have a nanny attend to children with highly contagious D&V

If she has other childminding work, how often is she nannying for you?

I’d have different expectations for a nanny working for me 4-5 days a week than for a nanny working for me one afternoon a week (say).

Mind you cancelling for a cold is wussy either way.

The main plus of a nanny is that they look after sick children and in their own home

if she is like this in first week …..

get rid