Night nanny

[Chaosonthehorizon]

We are going to take the plunge and have a night nanny this time around (no family, DH has a big long hours job and we already have two other children). If you had one, how long for? They are v expensive so don’t want to get enticed into months and months ‘because you won’t cope without’ have had some say 6 nights per week for 12 weeks!!! We want to start just before DH goes back so 2.5 ish weeks in and are thinking 3 nights and week but no idea how long for. Also paying for day help so ££ are stretched. Thanks

I looked into this and it was around £1500 per week they also advised that you would have to secure them from your due date and if the dates moved you'd have to pay 50% of the fee!! That totally put me off and we didn't use one in the end. Therefore I'd speak to a few and see how you get on - and in hindsight I'd probably look at getting a night nanny a couple of weeks in where the bone tiredness has kicked in

Thanks very much. The two I have narrow down to seem to be happy to start three weeks in when my husband goes back to work. But one does have a deposit which is refundable if you end the contract early. How long ideally would you have had one for if you did?

I have triplets so it’s not quite comparable but I would have had them for the first month. I was expressing though so still had to wake up in the night. It could be worth considering cheaper help in the day so you can catch up on sleep?

Not what you asked for, I know, but I have 7 week old twins, a 2 year old, and a 5 year old, and the sleep hasn't actually been too much of a problem. It's daytime where things are really hard going. Personally, I'd rather have help in the day, keep the home organised, have the odd nap or half an hour to myself etc. The day time us absolutely relentless. I got 8 minutes of sitting down/relaxing time yesterday, and it was a good day.

Maternity nurses usually work on a 24/7 basis with a bit of time off during the day for their sanity.

How long for depends on what you’d like. I found that some of them are pretty flexible and happy to do 1, 3, 5 or however many nights a week.

We weren’t planning to have one but then managed to find one when DS arrived (our first and a massive shock to the system). Due to other commitments, she was only able to do 3-4 nights a week but stayed for 12 weeks. The benefit of that was that by then she has him trained to fall asleep on his own in the cot and on a good feeding schedule.

Very very helpful, thank you all. Getting daytime help in place as I am having a c section so simply won’t be able to do school and nursery runs. And will scale that back as I get better (so really only lots for the summer term). Very helpful night thoughts too and good to know that sleep might not be as bad as expected!!

If you were going for three nights a week, which would you go for? We were going to do Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday but someone said Saturday was great as you got some time with your husband and also then more energy for both of you on the Sunday with the older children. Obviously we aren’t having any daytime weekend help! Thanks