INFANTCARE VS NANNY VS MAID
I used to think like some of you when i had my boy.
Want privacy, don't want stranger in living in the house, so didn't want maid.
Between nanny and infantcare, i chose infantcare cos i didn't have any recommended nanny near my place and the only one that i found, my boy didn't like it when i brought him there. He liked the infantcare when i took him there. Cos by then he was almost 6 mths old, no longer the blur blur bb that drink and sleep only.
The good thing about infantcare is that there's more interaction and activities, eg art & craft, water play and music & movement. I actually kept all those artwork that he did in school
Also as there are a few caregivers in the centre, he wont end up being too attached to a single caregiver as compared to being with a nanny.
The teachers there are trained and they have to fill up a report on bb's sleeping times, milk times and diaper changing times and what bb did for the day. A nanny won't do that for you.
So i went back to work when he turned 6 mths old.
But the downside of infantcare is that it's air-conditioned, so it's very easy infections to pass around. Plus my boy has allergy rhinitis which means that he keeps having runny nose when he's in air-con place. So i ended up having to bring him to the doc and take leave to look after him very often.
Plus infantcare is more inflexible in the sense that it closes at 7pm. There were many times where i had to speed there to pick him up before it closes. A nanny would be more flexible.
it was no joke handling a bb and carrying his bag, my work bag and breast pump from the car back home cos hubby usually works even later than me.
Plus, you'll have to do his laundry (the centre needs him to bring 3 sets of clothes each day), wash and sterilise his bottles and pack his bag for the next day.
i took him out after 6 mths cos it was very stressful for me to see him falling sick so often. PD says luckily i breastfed him for so long, if not, it could have been even worse.
So i got a maid, took 6 mths of no pay leave to stay home to nurse him back to health and to train the maid. At least with the maid, she takes care of the mundane chores while i get to spend quality time with my boy.
Though i have to put up with the inconvenience of having a stranger in the house and disciplining the maid, i'm glad that my maid is more of a help than a hinderance. Getting a maid depends on your luck, i'm happy that at least mine is still not that bad.
I'll be going back to work next week. My boy will be left alone with the maid while i'm at work. But i've shifted to the same condo as my sis who is a SAHM, so she'll pop by to check on them. Plus now that i'm staying closer to my parents and in-laws, they will also drop by to check on them.
i don't know how the maid is going to cope when #2 comes along, we'll see how it goes.
So my point is, we can have our preferences now but when the time comes, things may not work the way we want it to be. Just have to learn to adapt along the way.
