Hi everyone. The last NF I worked for was very religious (christian) which I don’t mind at all bc I myself am a christian. We would pray before every meal and sometimes I would even work during church. Like I would be in charge of them AT church.(I would be paid for it but I also really did not mind)

Well anyway I started working for a new family and they Are agnostic. They don’t care for religion. They have no affiliations with it at all and that is ok. But my question is, can I listen in on bible study at work?

I asked MB this and she said she will think on it. I only asked her bc NK has alot of activities during the week and alot of time is waiting for her to get out of her activies. Alot of times bible study it is in the late evening when i would be at work. Bible study would take place around then so I would hop on the call but I would tell them i’m at work so I will just listen. I want to be there. I want to know what theyre talking about because its a plan i agreed to and its for the whole year. I dont want to be behind. My mom boss was very understandble when I told her I joined the call while I was waiting for nk to get out of her class but her saying she had to think about it made me feel like it wasnt even worth bringing up. Because I sit in my car waiting for her. Why can’t I join the call?

I am hiring a nanny from facebook group. What all documents I should be asking her? How do I verify if she is a not a criminal. I got the reference from her old family.

Hey guys, I’m extremely new to this group so I don’t even know if this is the right group to post this in. But I recently started a new nanny job with a new family and to say this baby (3 months old) is a Velcro baby is a complete understatement.

Now when I had my initial interview with mom she did state he was “a bit of a Velcro baby” but y’all. Good lord. I have never in my 7 years of experience dealt with a baby this attached.

The mother does not want me to put him in his bassinet to sleep, she would like me to hold him because “he doesn’t sleep well in his bassinet.” Which is fine, I do what the mother tells me. But I feel as if it’s not helping the problem.

If I even turn this baby around to set him down to change him, do dishes, do laundry, etc he screams like I am hurting him yall. Like bad. My personal “parenting style” is (if allowed of course) I will let the baby cry it out while I do what I need to do until I am done. Or until I’m at a point where I can get them again. However all that being said momma works from home so will come out to check on him if she hears him screaming bloody murder.

On top of that this baby is completely breast fed, and was only given his first bottle a week before I started watching him. This baby does not drink out of a bottle. He exclusively wants to breast feed. And he’s not the type of baby who will be so hungry he will just give up and eat out of the bottle. I mean this baby would rather starve than eat out of it. I have done alll the little tops and tricks trying to get the poor baby to drink out of this bottle, but today he went like 4 hours without eating until his mom could get him to feed him.

Please yall I am begging. Any advice on how to feed this poor baby and deal with an extremeeee Velcro baby so I can do my other duties is extremely appreciated 🥲

-an exhausted nanny

I am looking for help and guidance I guess on the situation. I tested positive for Covid after ND was “assumed” to have Covid but they never test. I never go anywhere outside of taking care of their kids as I do not have friends at the moment 😂

What would you say pay is now that it’s not at the height of Covid times technically anymore. I know there’s been a surge of cases but since he never “officially” tested positive they don’t want to pay me AT ALL nothing. I still have a fever and am just looking for how to kindly word my message because I am very frustrated currently

“Why would we owe you for any of the days?” Was the response to me asking for 2 days paid and 2 days unpaid. Which I personally felt was fair

With today’s inflation what should I charge. I am an experienced nanny of 7 years. I charge 15 an hour. An I feel like I’m ripping myself off. By the time I pay bills and fill my gas tank it’s just not enough. How much should I be charging? I nanny one child 3 days a week

Before I became a nanny, I was a teacher! I used to get so many sweet gifts from families during thr holidays and during teacher appreciation week and one of my favorite things were all the teacher themed items, bags, cups, bracelets, key chains, t shirts, that always had a teacher theme or message to it of course.

Being a nanny though, I have seen similar items but haven't been gifted any yet 😅😭 it's totally okay though lol! I am curious though where I could find items like these, if any NP has bought their nanny cute gifts like these or if a nanny has bought something for themselves. Some of my old teacher items are worn out or broken now 😞 and since I'm in a new profession anyways I think it's time to treat myself to some cute nanny accessories! Thanks in advance for any suggestions. (I am moreso looking for decent quality that will last awhile, but I'm open to any suggestions, too)

NM will litteraly make NK4 sit on the toilet until she poops. She'll have her try in the morning, then before lunch if she doesn't go in the morning, then before nap if she still hasn't gone and won't let her up until she goes.

NM revealed today that it's not uncommon for her to sit on the toilet actively trying to poop for up to four hours even before I get there. If NK 4 doesn't poop by noon she usually gives her miralax. Between the near daily miralax and the HOURS on the toilet I'm worried about her GI health and honestly hemoriods.

She's the kind of boss where if I try to contradict her in any way I am risking my job. I understand she's her kid and she knows her best but it's not uncommon to go every other day or even every three days for a four year old.

(honestly also confused because NM says she won't poop unless forced to however NK has definitely let me know multiple times in the past six months that she needed to poop while playing, at least before NM started to force her to go so insistently)

How can I say something? Do I say something? I don't want to overstep but I'm genuinely worried for NK at this point

I know that this is a frequent topic in this profession but I just need to get this all out there for my own sake.

I nanny 45 hours a week for a WONDERFUL family. I have been with this family for almost two years and NKs are currently 4.5 years and 18 months. I am a fairly young nanny (in my early 20s) and thought this would put me ahead of the game with my energy and physical activity levels. BUT BOY WAS I WRONG.

I am exhausted. All the time. No matter how much I sleep at night, how much I rest during the weekends, what I eat/don’t eat. I’m not sure how to fix this. Most of my nanny friends have said take some time off, which my body thankfully forced me to do with a kidney infection recently. But that wasn’t the rest my soul needed. I wish I could use more PTO to take more time off but because of prior commitments, I have to save it.

This lack of energy has also affected other aspects of my life. My communication with friends and family has slowed, my apartment is constantly a mess, and I don’t get out much. An obvious solution for this would be to find another job, but it’s not that simple. As a young adult who recently graduated, I am making a significantly more money than my peers. Which is amazing until I look at entry level jobs in my degree field which pay half of what I make yearly now. Due to student loans and other finances, I need a job that would pay just as much or more to keep my head above water.

After all of that, I do want to say that this family has really accepted me as one of their own. I love the kids, parents, and grandparents with all my heart. The NPs are on the older side for having young kids, so they have essentially adopted me as their eldest daughter. I have been through a lot of life change while working with them and they have had my back every step of the way. This burn out problem just seems like something I can’t bring up to them because there is no easy solution. Thankfully they are taking a week of vacation in April (coincidentally my birthday week too) and I’m looking forward to that more than anything. I’m going to take that time off to reset, rest, and hopefully regenerate my spirit. My plan is to see how it goes for a couple months after that break. If the burnout does not get any better, I’ll have to go back to the drawing board.

But until then, I will take any advice you all have to give. I would love to hear from other nannies on how they deal with burnout, and also from NPs on how you would handle a nanny bringing up this situation with you.

Thank you all for reading my novel of a post and I hope you all have a great week.

I'm leaving my position of almost two years later this month and am looking for advice on transitional activities and mementos/gifts for NK. A nanny friend suggested a photo book, which I love the idea of, but MB and I aren't ending things on the best terms so I'm worried she wouldn't like that.

I am also looking for advice/shared experience on when is the right time to break the news to NK. MB wants to wait "as long as possible" to tell him that I'm leaving, which I don't think is the best idea... I feel like he should be given time to process, with many reminders that it's not his fault. Kids personalize things without the proper guidance, and I think telling him on my last day would make it super tough for him to process. I've been with him for more than half of his life, after all.

TIA for any advice <3 You guys gave me the strength and encouragement I needed to leave this toxic job, and I'm so grateful! Going to miss NKs like crazy, but I know it's for the best.

I just need to vent honestly. Nk is 4 months old and has a G3 sister. I’m definitely a big fan of sleep training and so is MB so I thought we’d be on the same page, but it turns out we disagree on some basic fundamentals of caring for a baby.

We started sleep training exactly at 16 weeks using the sleep consultant MB had hired for G3 when she was 16 weeks. It’s essentially Ferber but on a very tight schedule i.e. naps can’t start before certain times of the day, wake windows MUST be at least 2 hours, etc. I realized very quickly that this method relies fairly heavily on basically depriving the child of sleep so they essentially pass out from exhaustion in the crib. MB said all naps must be in the crib and said that we were done holding the baby for sleep. On days where baby naps less than an hour for each nap (which happens fairly often), she’s put down for the night at 5:35pm and is not allowed to be taken out until 6:30am the next morning.

All this to say, I realized that I feel pretty passionately about babies being snuggled to sleep from time to time, especially at this age. It’s been extremely difficult to work with a baby who is exhausted and grumpy all day, I feel like a horrible caregiver. Like I can see her need and I’m not meeting it. There was one day where for health reasons I said I wasn’t comfortable with putting the baby in the crib and MB let me do a cuddle nap but she was clearly unhappy about it. Baby slept 2 hours straight on my chest and didn’t move a muscle.

I just hate that this little baby that’s been on this earth for literally 4 months doesn’t get any snuggles. I’m all over her during wake windows and she’s become a little Velcro baby during the day. This is honestly on of the hardest things about being a nanny. I’m with the kid all day and get to know them very well, but I’m not allowed to follow my intuition or make judgement calls based on my observations. So I’m left with an over tired and angry baby 😩

EDIT: I just want state clearly that I am in no way meaning to Mom-shame with this post. I’ve come to the conclusion that this method is what works best for MB and her household. However, it doesn’t change the fact that this feels so morally grating in my day-to-day work. I’ve sleep trained several babies in the past and I guess my methods are just a bit more gentle and allow for more grace/connection. It may not work for everybody, but it’s what aligns with my heart.

Hi!

I’m a corporate girl, who went back to nannying after burnout a few years back. I nannied during college and LOVED it, so I thought that it would be a welcome change to the fast paced life of corporate. To think nannying would be easier was laughable. I mean, getting to snuggle up with cute kids and being outside during the summer are total perks. But, my god, caregiver burnout is so very real. Between being underpaid, not having coworkers, little benefits, I realized it was time to go back to corporate. It turns out I’m not alone, I’ve seen a handful of TikTok’s of corporate girlies who went back to nannying and then realized it was so much more work than they remembered 😅

After applying and applying to so many jobs outside of nannying since October, I finally got a job offer last week! Health insurance, great PTO and benefits. I could cry with how grateful I feel.

Anyways, I’m so excited. My heart does ache a bit because I know I’ll miss my little ones dearly and will be soaking in as much of the last few weeks as possible. But this is what is needed for me and my family.

There were so many times since being a nanny again that I would scroll on here and find the posts from people who were feeling like I felt. Burnt out, losing passion in the field, and so unhappy. To anyone who has been going through this, I just want to say I see you and offer some solidarity and hopefully encouragement ❤️

I recently became a nanny to a kid (f4) undergoing cancer treatment. I work three days a week, 8-5. She can’t be in school because she’s severely immunocompromised but she lives in an isolated subdivision with nothing to do but play on the swing sets and take walks/ride her scooter.

I’m not one with much curriculum experience but I feel responsible for keeping her engaged and enriched. I plan daily activities- we bake and decorate cookies, I come up with art projects, we play Barbie, and I even had her mom get her a cooking kit so she can practice making her own breakfast alongside me with her little kid friendly knife and cutting board.

The problem is she’s BORED. And she’s having a hard time missing out on school- there’s only so much I can do to help her socialize, because I’m not a peer. She stays occupied for about 20 minutes then declares she doesn’t like what we’re doing and that she wants a movie. She doesn’t spend any time on her iPad unless she’s facetiming her teacher in the morning to join Circle Time, so I don’t think screens are the problem. But she can be defiant, mean (negates everything I say and calls my food gross, says I smell, doesn’t laugh at my jokes, and when she gets consequences for acting out she declares she misses mommy and daddy and we have to re-regulate)

Anyway, I’m just looking for some tips or sources with activities that are age appropriate. Shes going through a tough time and it’s SO HARD to be taken out of school to get weekly treatments. She just misses normalcy and I want to bridge the gap to the best of my abilities.

parents can reply, but keep in mind what I’m asking

My 13mo NK has more emotion in her little body than I’ve ever seen in a baby and I have NO IDEA how to handle it. She started tantrums around 10 months (screaming, throwing herself down, etc) and it’s only gotten worse. When she tantrums over not getting what she wants, I typically set her away towards another toy and she’ll have her little meltdown over there and then come back to me for hugs once the anger subsides. But I feel horrible that she has to deal with so much emotion. She gets so angry that she’s screaming at the top of her lungs but then adding these little fake cries and semi thrashing on the floor. I just need advice on the best way to handle her meltdowns so we can minimize them and also so she can learn it’s not that extreme. She’s only 13 months and she tantrums like most 2-3 year olds I’ve worked with. I have another baby a few of the days I’m with her (same age) and it really affects them. I just don’t want to be doing the wrong thing to make this worse as she continues to age. I have the least amount of experience with 12-20 months so anyone who knows this age well, please help! I’ve been with her since she was 6 weeks and we have a great relationship.

I am currently in the process of terminating with my NF since I am moving out of the state so I guess now is a perfect time to tell this story. I have been with them for a year now, however, I found the secret nanny cam once I was 5 months into the job.

I noticed a clock plugged in on the stand next to the couch. I found it odd that the clock was not battery operated. Also, the clock was facing the couch at a weird angle instead of it facing the entire living room. The clock faces where the baby and I spend the most time sitting at. I noticed that there was an identical clock in the baby’s room and the kitchen.

I became suspicious because the house did not have any obvious surveillance and none was disclosed by the NF. What really got to me was that mom would text me certain things as if she was watching us. For example, I was going through the toys and she texted me minutes later that the rest of the toys are in the closet. I thought, “What a coincidence” but it became much more frequent as if she was watching us. I ended up googling the clock and of course… it was the first option that showed up.

I still love the NF and I do not plan on bring it up? Or should I?

My NK4 can read and comprehend at a 3rd grade level (if not higher tbh) and reading is her favorite hobby. I love going to work just to sit with her on the couch while she reads her own book and I read mine.

Which is what we’re currently doing. She’s reading Junie B Jones and I’m reading “The Night Circus”

I live in a major city and have been a nanny for many years now. For the last two years I’ve been exclusively working with newborns/infants. I usually get my jobs through care or by word of mouth. I had an interview yesterday and when they asked me my rate and I responded with $21/hr they hesitated before agreeing. It made me feel quite embarrassed but now I just feel upset. In many online nanny spaces I see consistently that starting rates should be around $25. So I already feel as though I’m undervaluing myself and deserve more pay. I’m also already struggling to support myself on this wage and now with all these expected high increases on most products I’m feeling even more financially stressed. Is $25 really what most people are getting and where do you find these jobs? I’m kind of debating shifting away from nannying because I’m tired of worrying about funds but I also don’t know where I’d be able to find a better paying job. I guess I just feel disappointed and confused so any advice or words of encouragement would be very very appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for any responses

A few months ago, I let my NF know that my last day would be the first week of February. I shed some tears when I let them know when my last day would be.

My last day is this Friday. Time flew by! I am moving states so there is no way I can stay :( I have never felt attached to a kiddo like this before and I have been nannying for years. It hurts me the most too because the family and I worked so well together. He has ASD and I have years of experience with children with ASD. The family had previously mentioned that it’s hard to find people with the experience so it makes me feel somewhat guilty.

Hi, we have a nanny that cares for our two children 2 and 5. Both children will be in school next year but we want to keep out nanny as we our kids are very comfortable with her.. We understand she needs full-time hours and have suggested keeping her full-time and asking to do house keeper work ie. cleaning, organizing, family laundry during the 20 hours that the kids are in school (obviously this wouldnt 100% apply when the kids were sick or off school). In terms of cleaning - what is reasonable? Thank you.

My nanny kid (girl 6) got some beads for Christmas and has been making bracelets for all her friends. Today when I got to work she grabbed something out of a little bag and presented me with this adorable bracelet!

It has small round pink, purple, and blue iridescent beads. A purple irredentist heart. Two smiley face beads, one is small and purple, the other is a little and white. I’m the middle is a big pink irredentist shell. It’s honestly really cute and my style!

I was thanking her and telling her how much I love it when she replied, “well I wanted to make bracelets for all my family🤷🏼‍♀️” 🥹🥹she said it like she thinks of me as family! My heart is melted!

NK is so interested in reading and books. I am also into reading. I have so many books from when I was a kid which I love. I thought about telling her that the two of us could discuss books and read them at the same time so we can discuss what happens. I want to engage her mind. I was thinking of asking her if we could trade books where I might read one I think that she would like so I’ll lend her it to read and then she can lend me any that she thinks I would like. But I’m doubting if NM will think this is me taking on something that isn’t my job or even doing something she would want to do with her child. I just remember being a child and my aunt used to bring me books that she “liked” and then we would read/discuss them. I started leaving her books that I thought she would like (I’m pretty sure she would read them and then give them back but maybe that’s just my little kid brain).

What do you keep in your nanny bags?

for some background i (22 F) have been the nanny for this 1 child for over a year now, and always had a good professional relationship with the family. they both work from home, and normally 98% of my communication was with the MB but still talked to DB occasionally. he added me on snapchat few months ago but didn’t think anything of it. last month my MB mom broke her elbow so MB has been over at her house to help out, leaving me home alone with baby and DB. things normal at first, he would occasionally ask to have lunch with us which is fine. made a few comments like “if i’m getting too familiar let me know” which kinda made me feel weird because like…it’s ur own house of course u can eat at the kitchen table lol, but still nothing major. we have always ONLY communicated through imessages, and today when it was time for me to leave he texted me saying im good to go. then about 5 min after i left he texted me on snapchat saying “can i take you out for a cup of coffee? you can get one of the fancy ones” which made me feel really weird. for starters asking me on snapchat is weird, makes me feel like he’s trying to be secretive about it since snapchats delete. also the way he worded it felt strange saying something about “u can get a fancy one”, he is 23 years older than me so came off predatory or something in my opinion. but i don’t know if im being over dramatic and this is harmless or what to respond with/what to do.

So recently I was in the hospital and basically told I can’t work for 2 weeks and needed to be on absolute bed rest. I was horrified that I might lose both my nanny jobs. Instead both families have given me so much positivity and love 😭😭. One even sent a gift card! My heart was super touched! They’ve always been my favorite to work for too since they’re super chill and just great people all around. Just feeling incredibly happy now 🥹🥹

Anyone else hate Mondays cause you have to track down kids stuff like hats etc? Family is generally good aside from their inability to put anything away. Love the hunt for boots, hats, and all of that.

Does anyone else have no break and work a 9 hour day? How do you cope and handle it? Am I the only one that lays on the floor for 5 mins after putting the youngest to nap? What are you tips for including time breaks, because the extra mental energy it takes to entertain these kids 24/7 gets to me, I feel I’m constantly preforming for them that plus all the doings of the daily in and out. I’m exhausted. I should add this is a no screens house hold I work for.

But only for the kids. I switched over to becoming a postpartum doula after my last contract was up in September. Although PPD work is great and the money is awesome too, I still really miss being a nanny. I was a newborn/infant/toddler nanny so I got to watch the kiddos grow and be with them every day and hit their milestones. I’m still apart of some childcare groups on Facebook and always see parents post for a full/part time nanny. Sometimes I want to apply but then I remember how absolutely exhausting parents are in the nanny employer/employee workspace. Idk if it was because of the age group I was with or just parents in general but the amount of times I had to be ridiculously firm on my boundaries with parents was insane. Not only that, the teaching of parents on how to employ a household employee while already in the job was asinine. The constant being late for handoffs but throwing a fit if I texted that I was going to be 5 minutes late. Constant asking if I’d do housework that was clearly outside of my scope as a nanny. The fake “you’re apart of this family” attitude but not when it came to paying me on time. I never found my unicorn family which I’m sad about. Maybe I was just navigating the nanny world wrong idk but I miss having NKs regularly.

Hi! I am a nanny for a 2.5 year old that has recently dropped their nap. I do not leave the house with her other than a walk around the neighborhood and I’m struggling with ways to keep them entertained throughout our 8 hour days. It has also caused a bit of burn out since we are both trapped inside all day. Let me know of any activities I should implement or if I should touch base with NF again about leaving the house to go to park, libraries, etc. Thanks!

Hey y’all! I nanny a 2.5 year old and 6 month old sibling. Baby is now a newly rolling queen and is on the move. It used to be part of our routine to spend lots of time in the backyard with baby chilling on the blanket (back or tummy time with toys) and toddler running around, doing chalk, hide and seek, etc., but now baby’s main mission in life is rolling immediately off the blanket to eat grass and sticks 😂 This is my first time with this age and transition; is there a way we can all play outside together effectively?

I have been sitting with baby on the blanket and just watching like a hawk, but toddler wants attention too, and I know it’s not sustainable. They don’t have a playpen to bring outside. Thanks for any tips you have!

Hi everyone!! I started nannying with a 2mo old and a 11mo old in nanny share. Now the 2mo is 1.5yr and the 11mo old is 2 and has a baby brother!!! We’re incorporating his baby brother into the schedule two days a week while 2yr is at daycare. So it’ll be the 1.5yr and the 2mo.

It’s been a while for me with a little little one, so I figured I’d come here to ask for some tips transitioning back to this age gap.

Also any tips related to newborns/2 month olds? (Thinking like where I’ll put him, toys, good questions for mom) I trust you guys know what I mean!! Thank you!!

I started a live in position for this family 4 months ago. In the beginning, there was another part time nanny, so I worked 3 days while she worked 2. The shifts are almost 11 hours so it was good to have a few days with a break.

The other nanny since quit and I’m now working 50 hours a week, no overtime. Nk6 was fine in the beginning, but after about a month he became so mean. He back talks everything, commands instead of asks, mocks everything I say, never says please or thank you, and yells at me when something doesn’t go his way. Today, the house was a messss when I came in, like I couldn’t even walk around, and mb wanted help looking for a remote. I start moving things around the couch to look, and he starts screaming at me that I’m ruining and destroying everything. Mb says it’s not ok to talk to me like that, and to say sorry, and he refuses. She then says she’s gonna take away his iPad if he doesn’t way sorry and he screams sorry at me and then throws something at his mom. She takes the iPad away. Not even 30 seconds later she gives it back to him. Db them comes down and is praising nk saying he’s the best and perfect. I go and the bathroom and cry for a minute. Not bc of what he said, but because the parents basically did nothing about it, and I feel like they look at me like I’m not human.

Situations like this have happened over and over again. He does something and they either give no consequence at all or give a consequence but go back 5 seconds later.

This isn’t the only reason I’ve thought about quitting. 50 hours a week is really draining me and I’m in college full time. The house is a mess every day when I come downstairs and I’m left to spend a good portion of the morning cleaning. I also feel like I’ve had my privacy violated while living here. A big thing that almost made me quit is when I got norovirus from the family and didn’t feel the symptoms until mid day, I texted the mom that I was throwing up every 30 minutes and couldn’t move, and she said she would see if db could pick nk6 up from school. After he got picked up by db, mb called and asked me if db could take nk6 out for dinner and I stay home with nk2 until they came back.

Am I overreacting?