New Mum In-house support - career option?

[EverybodySayCheeze]

Not sure if this is the right place, but I’ve been sitting on a business idea and would love some honest feedback.

I’m currently in a corporate job I hate and thinking about doing something more meaningful. I’m really passionate about post-partum support (and how little of it there is), and I’ve been toying with the idea of offering myself as in-home support for new mums, especially in the first 0–6 months.

The idea is that mums could book me for a few hours at a time to simply support them. That might look like holding the baby so they can rest or shower, doing light housework, making a nutritious meal or cup of tea, helping with older kids’ dinner — whatever would actually make their day easier. Less “childcare”, more supporting the mum.

Think of it as somewhere between a traditional mother’s help and a really good, emotionally supportive friend. Not therapy, but a safe, caring presence. I’d plan to get proper training in childcare and mental-health-adjacent support so I’m qualified and responsible.

My question is: does this feel like a viable business? If you were a new mum, would you pay for something like this?

Please feel free to be brutally honest before I spend a lot of time and money training for it.

No most people get nannys if thats the case (which basically this is just without childcare), but I tell you who would book in house support & you would have plenty of clients for - parents of children with special needs that covers all types of disabilities from diabetes type one (which majorly burns out parents and nigh on impossible to find anyone qualifed to help) to kids with autism/learning difficulties. I would give my right arm for in house help for that.

I would have hired you had i known about it.

You would have new clients every 6 months. How would you market yourself? Because it's not common, I wouldn't have known to look for your service. If I saw your service in pregnancy, I probably wouldn't have thought i needed it, so if I saw an advert wouldn't have booked. I found it hard to find local toddler groups etc. You'll have to be constantly solving this problem for all the new mums.

Great idea but I think that's the hardest thing

I feel like this is a great idea. I looked into getting a doula who offered support before and after the baby was born. It was medical but also wholistic and they did more than medical stuff. I can’t remember why I didn’t do it. I think my aunt offered to come.

I think what mamato4boys said is a good reflection. She heard about it but didn't think she needed it whilst pregnant

I think it’s a good idea but do you need to earn a living wage from this?

Cleaners in SE charge up to £20 an hour and with travel between customers unpaid they aren’t high earners.

If you to have to charge a lot that reduces the number of mums you could help to a rich elite.

Have you thought about insurance?

Also what about your experience eg are you a mum of two grown up kids? Why would I hire you?

Perhaps if you can afford the salary drop you should go and work in a nursery first so you have a few years experience in early years and then consider building your business from there

First of all I think it’s an amazing idea and something that most new mum’s (especially first time mums) would really benefit from.

BUT, and it is a big but, I don’t think anybody (or many) would pay for it.

It depends where you live of course but I’ve got a 20 month old and a 9 week old so have spent a lot of time around new mums in the last 2 years and the common theme in most conversations is how tight money is or is going to be while on mat leave, I don’t think any of those mums would have been able to or prepared to spend even £100 on something like this.

It’s a difficult niche to find because lots of people have family/friends to fulfil these things, my mum and sister were that support for me both times and I’m incredibly grateful, I’ve been that support for my friends and they have also been that support for me, so really you’re looking for mum’s who are pretty isolated not much family/friend support, and then you also need to find the chunk of those people who have the funds to pay for the service you want to provide, in my own experience that honestly wouldn’t be many “ordinary” people and those with big money typically would have nanny’s or home help already in place so wouldn’t necessarily need what you provide.

It’s a lovely idea, but I’m not sure it’s a viable business decision.

I agree, I used to mind a kid with type 1 diabetes. She used to have really severe highs and lows, I remember how hard it was for her to go to parties and play dates. A parent often had to attend with her and I minded the other kids or I went with her. Although the parents trusted me because I knew her, I honestly felt a bit out of my depth.

i would see this as a bit different to a nanny because OP is only looking for a few hours a day probably when her own kids are at school. Most nanny’s I worked with were full time, that wouldn’t appeal to someone (of normal income) on maternity leave because it would be too expensive. This service is just a break for mum.

I think I didn’t go for it because my aunt offered to come and stay for 2 weeks and she was horrified about someone outside the family.

It was when I was pregnant with my second because my first baby was hard and a toddler and baby terrified me. We were abroad at the time because of my husbands job. We were home for DC 3 and 4, so a different situation. I actually wish I had been more assertive and gone for it. I think i was a bit nervous that the person might not click with us and it would be awkward to give them tasks. Especially as my husband wasn’t enthusiastic and he is very hands on, so his opinion really mattered. The third reason was I had visitors come and would I be able to not have them and not pay them in this window.

I think what people are saying is right though, it will be hard to market yourself unless you get into a word of mouth situation. Someone who is a foreign national but with disposable income is probably a good choice because although family come and visit it is only for specific windows. Would you be happy to be switched off when family came? These people don’t have a friendship circle, so they kind of need it. Hospitals often have doctors come from abroad. Freelancers who can’t just leave their work for 6 months so need just a few hours a day to keep their clients.

im very invested in this thread because it is something I would have loved to have had and I would love to do it now my kids are at school.

It’s basically a mother’s help. Quite niche and more than most people can afford so it might work as a “hobby job” if you don’t mind working sporadic part time hours but I think you’d struggle to make it a full time decent source of income.

You mean a postnatal doula? There's lots around and they are popular. Not a full time gig unless you are in a very affluent area as you also need to book your time around people's due dates. So you need a few weeks window around each mother when you aren't able to take another client.

Yep, this job exists. It called a postnatal doula. Lots of women who want to be a birth doula do this while their own children and young (and can’t do the unpredictable birth times)

there are training courses you can do and a good post natal doula also has qualifications in breastfeeding so they can support with that.

I mostly know them in London but there is a market in other places.

often women hire them because they have no family nearby, their partners don’t have much leave, they are solo mums, they have a disability / other need that means they want extra support.

I would have loved this but as PP said, I was an expat with no social circle and a husband who cleared off abroad at short notice as per the nature of the job. But that’s not the norm unless you can get yourself ingratiated with a expat concierge service in London and even then I suspect you’d be competing against Nannies.

Hi OP the mums that really needs support are likely not to be the ones who can afford it. I think a charity in this area would be wonderful. Just go in and either hold the baby, or do cleaning, be like a helpful aunt for someone who might otherwise struggle. I would actually be interested in doing this myself, feel free to PM me.

A volunteer service in this area would be invaluable, I think there's a lot of people who would give their time.

Absolutely agree with this. As I say with 2 under 2 myself I’ve spent a lot of time around other new mum’s in the last 2 years and most of them would have really benefitted from this support but couldn’t afford the cost.

Oh just done some research and think there is already a charity doing this - home start!

The job is called a nanny. I hired a part time nanny when my son was 3 months old. She did all the things you list.

I was breastfeeding so couldn't (and didn't want to) hand over my baby for days at a time. She held the baby so I could shower etc, cleaned, made me lunch, tidied up, took baby for a walk, sorted his clothes etc.

Some call it domestic helper, label doesn't matter. There's nothing revolutionary about it. It's just whether you have the money to pay for it.

This is a postnatal doula. It’s a concept that already exists, doulas aren’t just about birth, so look into existing doula training programmes and accreditation.