Hiring a nanny

As a first time mom and in my opinion there is a huge importance in hiring a good nanny. Every experience with newborn is very new, so a good nanny can only help you develop some routines and make few suggesting when raising a new born.

Since I live in central London where most of the people my age came here for jobs, majority of our parents are living somewhere in Europe so we do not have a benefit of having a grandpa or grandpa with us for our newborn. I personally spent time with my grandma and grandpa, so I could only wish to have the same for my baby, but since London has access to great people, you can invest some time in hiring a good nanny.

First step to hiring a good nanny is to interview as many nanny's as possible until you find a suitable nanny from day one. I have found ours on www.care.com, and there was plenty of choice on this website. For me it was important to have a nanny from day one where she can help us with new born activities, but also with cooking and helping with small tasks around the house. Another important element is that your baby will get used to your nanny from day one, but also when they turn one or two years old (depending on how long you will plan to keep the nanny), you will still have the same person in the house. In my family, we are trying to keep the same nanny this whole time, rather than introducing different people in our baby's life. In order to hire a good nanny, below I share few questions which you can ask while interviewing, which I hope are helpful.

In my experience, during the first few days, our nanny was more helpful around mother's activities, like cooking, helping with clothes or grocery shopping, while later on she became extremely helpful with the newborn. Once again, as a first time mom I did not even know how to properly introduce a dummy and these are some small tasks which your nanny can show you. I used to ask my nanny even about how to bath my newborn, how to burp, what exercises I can do, how to put my baby to sleep, and these were all suggestions which I picked up from my nanny.

She became a part of our family where nowadays she will go for daily walks, put out little one to sleep, change him, dress him up, play with him, as well as do baby exercises.

When you are a first time mom, your husband is with you as well, but you will always need an extra pair of hands. It is certainly possible to raise a child on your own, but to the extent you would like to go out, have a haircut, or go to a gym, extra pair of hands its always helpful.

As a new mom, you are always attached to your newborn, as you will always continue with breastfeeding, but I would strongly advise and suggest to have a nanny. I did not choose a night nurse for myself, as in my experience night nurses are hired to help with feeding your little one through the night, so if you are planning only to breastfeed I would say night nurse is not necessary at this stage. Our baby, which is now 12 weeks old is still sleeping with us, so when it comes to feeding at night I am always there.

Questions for your nanny about caring for your newborn:

1. What do you enjoy most about being a nanny?

2. What are your favourite activities with new borns?

3. Why did you choose a nannying career?

4. What do you think are the qualities needed to be a good nanny?

5. What do you enjoy least about being a nanny?

6. How would you structure the day with a new born?

7. What routines you would introduce in newborn lifestyle?

8. What kind of baby equipment you would use or would suggest we buy?

9. How do you feel about newborns watching iPhone or TV?

10. What sort of books you suggest we use/buy?

11. Do you plan on using the local library and church?

12. What type of foods you like to cook for children?

13. How do you stop the baby cry (if they are not hungry)?

14. What are your hobbies, interests?

15. Do you plan on taking holidays throughout the year and when?

16. How many siblings do you have/ tell me more about your family?

17. Are you willing to take the baby for a long walks (>5km)?

Questions for your nanny about caring for mom:

1. Would you be willing to cook for mom/family?

2. Are you willing to do small home tasks?

3. Would you be willing to do small grocery shopping?

4. Are you willing to go to library and pick up the books for our newborn?

5. Would you be willing to accompany us on our holidays?