au pair/mothers help, hours etc advise please if you have newborn and toddler...

[sunshine185]

hi there,

we are due #2 end of november by elective caesarean.

ds 1 who is very energetci will be 30 months then.

we have absolultely no family nearby to help out and based on the recovery from my c/s with ds 1 we are cautiously planning ahead for the arrival of ds2 and thinking of hiring live in help in the form of an au pair/mothers help, or someone to pop in daily to help out.

i have no idea how much help i will need, ds is in nursery 2 days a week 9-4pm. can anyone suggest an effective schedule for any help for a mother with newborn and todder? will live out be enough? will live in be better? our budget is £100 per week max!

as a side note, i will not be expecting much help to look after the newborn and it will mostly be playing with ds and doing housework, keeping the house tidy....

thanks so much

If you have space for a live in, and dont mind the intrusion then if your budget is £100,I would reconmend an au pair, who can do 5hrs or so a day cleaning/cooking etc

A pop in daily nanny/mothers halp would cost a lot more, and with the budget yu have,they would only be able to do 10/20 hrs a week depending on how much they charge £5-10ph - plus many might not take on 4hrs work a day as hard to fit in other work round it

happy hunting and congrats about no 2

I agree with imananny. I've not had a c/s but from the little I know, I imagine that a good live-in au pair would help you a lot. I had my dcs close together and had no family nearby. A neighbour helped me each weekday for a couple of hours and played with ds who she adored. She was retired and had some time to spare and used to be a childminder so it worked out really well.

THANK YOU LADIES!