Are you expecting a new baby? Find out what to look out for when hiring a confinement nanny.
So the news of your pregnancy has left both you and hubby over the moon. But before you start making a list of all the things you’ll need for the new baby, there is just 1 thing that you need to do first: start looking for a confinement nanny.
After all, you’ll need all the help you can get after bringing your baby home from the hospital – from the constant feeding and diaper changes to making sure that you eat right during this critical 1-month period after delivery.
Don’t start calling the confinement nanny that your sister or cousin has been raving about just yet. Here are some things you should take note of when hiring a confinement nanny:
Freelance nanny or confinement agency?
Hiring a confinement nanny: Should you go for a freelance nanny or confinement agency?
Freelance nannies have always been a more popular choice among expectant parents due to a slew of reasons. Most of them come highly recommended from friends and family who have used them before. However, there may be certain risks involved when opting for a freelance nanny, especially as they get more popular over time.
Things to consider when hiring a confinement nanny: Freelance nannies tend to get fully-booked for months, and may cancel at the last minute.
Not only do freelance nannies tend to get fully booked for months, they may also cancel the engagement at the last minute (even if a deposit has already been made). Reasons for this include an unexpected ‘family issue’ that they need to attend to, or they might have been offered a higher rate by another expectant mum who is due around the same time as you.
To avoid all these inconveniences, you may want to opt for a confinement agency instead. Agencies such as Moon Confinement have a large pool of confinement nannies who are paid at the same rate, so the chances of facing a last-minute cancellation due to nannies ‘choosing’ their jobs is quite slim.
Confinement know-how
Some freelance confinement nannies claim to know all about the confinement must-dos and must-haves. But how updated are their confinement practices and methods of baby care?
Question to ask when hiring a confinement nanny: How updated are her confinement practices and baby care skills?
One of the things that confinement agencies emphasise is the importance of providing regular training for their confinement nannies. According to Stephanie Liao, Director of Moon Confinement, the agency provides in-house training for all their nannies to ensure that their knowledge of confinement is up to date. “At Moon Confinement, there are various operating procedures, as well as rules and regulations for all our confinement nannies to follow. Nannies are also evaluated and benchmarked every 3 months to make sure that their work and service are up to standard.”
More on hiring a confinement nanny on the next page…
The hiring process
With a freelance confinement nanny, you basically call up the nanny to enquire if she is available to help you during your confinement period. Once she informs you of her availability, you would typically ask her a few questions to assess her knowledge on confinement and baby care – and whether her beliefs and practices clashes with yours. But will these simple steps be enough to assure that she’d be a good fit to help and support you during your confinement period?
Do you know what questions to ask when calling up a potential confinement nanny?
When it comes to hiring a nanny, most confinement agencies have a stringent process in place to ensure that the nanny they engage is fit to do the job well for all their clients. Stephanie shares that Moon Confinement goes through 3 rounds of checks when recruiting confinement nannies:
Round 1: Newspaper ads will be placed, and the agency will wait for potential nannies to respond to the ads.
Round 2: After shortlisting the potential confinement nannies, telephone interviews will be conducted with the candidates to get to know their background and personality.
Round 3: Confinement nannies that are selected will be interviewed in person. During the interview, they will be assessed based on their pleasantness, hygiene and appearance (Do they look neat and tidy?). Nannies will also need to answer a few questions based on how they would react when put in various situations during confinement.
Moon Confinement conducts regular checks to ensure that confinement nannies continue to give their best to their clients.
Candidates who pass Round 3 will ultimately be hired to work with Moon Confinement, who will arrange for the application of the relevant work permits. The agency will also conduct regular checks to ensure that confinement nannies continue to give their best to their clients. Nannies who are not performing up to standard will be dismissed from Moon Confinement.
Pro-breastfeeding?
Most expectant mums start off the first year with the intention to exclusively breastfeed their newborn. To ensure that you start off on the right path, it is crucial to get all the help you need post-delivery through a confinement nanny who supports and believes in the benefits of breastfeeding. After all, the last thing you want is to have the nanny telling you to top up your baby’s feeds with formula milk because he/she is ‘still hungry after latching’ or to keep your baby satisfied so he/she will sleep longer.
Confinement nannies at Moon Confinement are trained to support mums in their breastfeeding journey.
Confinement nannies at Moon Confinement are trained to support their client in their breastfeeding journey. Jovy, a 35-year-old mum of 2 shares with us her recent experience with a Moon Confinement nanny who was supportive of her breastfeeding efforts: “After delivery, my plan was to offer my baby total breastfeeding. The confinement aunty helped to massage my breast as they were badly engorged. She also taught me how to massage to encourage milk flow and cooked (sic) papaya with fish head to increase my milk flow. She advised me to rest more to stimulate milk flow, and offered to feed my baby expressed breastmilk from a bottle at night so that I could get more rest.”
Looking for a confinement nanny?
Mums and dads, we hope that the tips on what to look out for when hiring a confinement nanny (courtesy of Moon Confinement) would help you in your search for the right confinement nanny. If you’d like to find out more about Moon Confinement, do log on to https://www.moonconfinement.com.sg/.
Log on to www.moonconfinement.com.sg for more details on confinement packages.
Exclusive deal for all readers!
Enjoy $200 off when you sign up for a confinement package with Moon Confinement. Simply mention the promo code: moon200 when you call/email to enquire.
Promotion ends on 30th April 2014.
