The deal with night nannies - advice please!

[Beesok]

I am only 14 weeks but already planning ahead ;) My DH and I seem to agree on most things baby-related except for the night nanny!

He said that unless I want to do all the night "shifts" with baby he's getting a night nanny because he is not going to be able to wake up at night. Now before the poor guy gets shafted here :) he does have an extremely stressful job (which is supporting both of us as after my maternity leave I plan to stay at home for a while or work part time) he has to wake up at 6:00 am and is rarely home before 7:00 pm so has a long day and I agreed to take over the night feeds and changes once he goes back to work.

BUT what I am annoyed about is that he feels we need her from the start even when he's on paternity leave! (He's taking 2 weeks after the birth) I tried to explain to him that I don't want him to wake up every night but maybe a few times in the 2 weeks or maybe we could split the night so he does half and I do half - I am not against a night nanny in principle but feel that those first weeks are so important for bonding with your newborn and I don't want a stranger around the house at night :( I also want baby to sleep next to our bed so not happy with someone wheeling him/her away ...............I was upset the last time we talked about it and he felt quite bad and we agreed to see how it goes :) It is our first so we have no idea really what to expect

Sorry for the long post the long post but was wondering what other's experiences were with night nannies, husbands waking up etc?
Thanks :)

I'd not bother with the cot on wheels Just get a normal moses basket or cot, and a sling.

I'm not sure about the cot on wheels, but I have a Cosatto bedside cot and it's great - there are about 6 different base heights so you can line it up with your mattress, and one side comes off completely so the mattresses can be flush with each other. Better than a moses basket as you can slide the baby towards you in the night without having to lift him up. Plus as it's a full size cot it can move into the baby's bedroom eventually.

Thanks guys - the one I saw was in JL and it is actually very similar to the Cosatto, I plan on buying an emmaljunga pram (my friend has it and swears by it) so I can use that as a moses basket equivalent (it has bedding and is big and comfy for babies to sleep in)

I am not bothered with a cot bed as I want to try the Montessori approach and have baby sleep cot-free on the floor (on a mattress or floor bed) but that is a whole new topic for another thread ;)

Pootle thanks for the reassurance - I am keen on the BF but I agree not the end of the world - I wasn't breastfeed but pretty healthy ;)
I am dreading the bottle thing because I am LAZY and all the preparation involved is putting me off, pop the boob out and poof is much easier hehehehe

The first baby is quite different from second and thirds. You can sleep when they do and generally give them more attention than if your having to look after other DC's.

My DH is a light and fairly bad sleeper. Also gets v grumpy if he gets overtired. Being disturbed in the night is very disruptive for him.

I would recommend getting the baby in a good routine. The baby whisperer book has pretty good advise. It is when they are 6/7/8/9 months + and still waking regularly at 4 in the morning it's a killer. (I am also fairly grumpy with out a good nights sleep)

You can always bring in a trouble shooter at a later date if your struggling to get them out of the middle of night feed.

I am getting a maternity nurse as I am about to have #4. And we really struggled with sleep dprevation with #3 and I didn't have to do school runs. She will bring DB to me to feed at night and then settle them back down. I won't start this until the DB is a few weeks old. I will find it strange as I've always slept with them next to/ in our bed for first few months, and love that bit, but I know that it is the hardest thing about having another baby and the stress it would put the family in.
Also she will help me establish a good routine during the day, something I will struggle with having to deal with other DC.

Perhaps you could try a registered doula/night nanny for a couple of nights a week?

Doubt they'll come out for a 10yr old loopylu

Zombie thread!

If you have the money then I would consider getting a cleaner/house keeper instead. Someone who does the washing, cleaning, meal prep.