How to organise help when baby arrives?

[ferntwist]

Looking for advice. I’m expecting DC three and have two older children, one in nursery and the other in primary school. At the moment we have a lovely childminder who does nursery and school pick up two days a week when I’m working and stays til 7pm, as well as babysits for us one evening. We would like to keep her on while I’m on maternity leave but I’m not sure what the best hours would be? I know I’m going to need a lot of help with three but not sure when to focus it!
DH works away a lot during the week. I’ll probably be exclusively breast feeding as that’s what I did with the first two (neither would take a bottle and I really tried!).
Any tips on what worked for you would be great. Thank you!

Bump

Keep the same hours? Late afternoon was the hardest for me: 4:30 pm or so til bedtime when everyone was tired and cranky at the same time.

Do you mean you have a nanny?

Are the kids at your house until 7pm, or are they at the childminders house and need picking up?

Not a nanny, but an older local lady who picks up my kids two days a week from school when I’m working. She also babysits for us one evening a week

@CatOnTheChair She picks them up and brings them back to our house and looks after them here. She has a key so can come whenever. The only issue we have found is that she feels they play us both up if I’m here as well as her eg. if I get back early or sometimes have a shift off. She prefers to look after them on her own but maybe we can work on that?

I should also say she’s great with them and they really love her

OK. She's not a childminder.

If the kids play up when you are both at home, how do you see it working?

How tight is money going to be on maternity? Personally, we stopped all childcare when I wasn't working. We started it again when I went back to work. Not sure that is sensible if you need the late finishes, as I guess that is tough.

I know that is a lot of questions, and they don't all need answering publicly, but they ate things worth considering.

These are all good questions. The money side should be okay within reason as we’ve been saving a bit for maternity leave and still have some time to go.

The issue of playing up is a concern but I’m hoping that at the moment it’s because it’s unusual for me to be here at the same time whereas on maternity leave it would be the new normal. It seems a shame if I can’t have another grown up to help me because my kids won’t let us. I do feel my kids need can push me around sometimes but they are very young so maybe I need to work on this too!

@CatOnTheChair Sorry should have asked how many DC do you have?

Also what are the definitions of nanny/childminder, is the latter in her own home?

Thanks @BunsenBurnerBaby that would definitely make sense. I agree those hours from school pick up til bedtime are the most intense of the day!