There are couple of options and I am really not sure which I should pursue...
1) Hire a confinement nanny via referrals from the popular sites for mothers?
Have read really good reviews of some of these confinement nannies, but there are also uploads which warns of the danger that these confinement nannies may have uploaded the information via a relative or on their own to provide free advertisement to their services. It seems that it's impossible to differentiate between the genuine from the fakes via these sites and no one other than yourself would be held accountable for such engagements.
2) Hire via a confinement agency which offers replacement and guarantees adequate training.
Googled some names such as Pem and Bliss A..Honestly I am tempted to hire one from PEM due to their long history as well as the service that they guarantees. However, they don't allow me to speak to their contract nannies via phone. one friend mentioned that this was probably because they didn't wish for customers to undercut them and engage their nannies direct. I've lost all confidence in them delivering the right candidate since they weren't even able to come up with a fixed schedule of possible candidates. It makes me wonder if they could deliver at all and quality aside, though they do offer replacements on demand, would our demands be met when I need a replacement? Too many question marks in the equation. In view that agencies do take a cut in this entire process of hirng, I think it warrants at list a phone interview if face to face is not possible. Someone mentioned that these nannies need an agency to represent them because they are not as good (in terms of knowledge, skills) as those who do freelance through recommendations.
3) Hire a C nanny via friend's referral.
Have procrastinated quite a while and this option is getting less and less viable as many of the popular nannies have since been reserved till end of the year. There is one nanny available and friend is in the midst of her confinement, but her talkativeness would probably drive me up the wall. Heard she is not as hygienic in the kitchen either. Oh well I probably rubbed it off the wrong way with her during the call. Gave her scenarios hinting that I am particular about cleanliness and guess what she said... she said she felt stressed over the call and would be afraid of working for me.. sigh.. this is an interview for a $2k job and she would get paid without the need for educational qualifications.. she can't expect it to be a breeze right .. and not follow my instructions on how I want my child to be tended to.. oh well better not.
4) Hire a C nanny via popular C nanny's referral.
I've requested to meet with one face to face. She looked like a country bumpkin and seemed pretty new to the job. I didn't quite trust this one since she couldn't quite tell me in details how she would be looking after me and my child.
5) Not to hire, lessen workload of current maid to allow her time to rest and look after baby at the same time.
This is the safest, but of course I cant be too demanding with the helper who needs constant supervision during the first month.. or worse I may have to do everything myself. Previous maid was able to manage as there is only 1 child to look after. Now that there is Natalie who also require alot of attention from the helper, I think it would be a real tiring confinement period for me. Things may be easier if Chris could stay and extend his paternity leave to the same period of time, but this would never materialise in Singapore. His regional role doesn't allow him to do it either.
6) Hire another maid for the required period?
This seems to be the most popular option supported by Chris. Attractiveness of this is the fact that we could compare the 2 maids and determine which is the stronger worker, of course keeping the better one for the longer term. Extension would be within our control, but only thing is ours is a pretty small place with not much to occupy the time of both domestic helpers. My greatest fear is the clear segregation of duties with both drawing lines on chores and baby sitting..my babies will end up not well looked after and with the short term nature, the maid who ultimately stays may feel a sudden increase of additional workload and I wonder if she would be handle the dual functions as well if not trained from the start.
Sigh.. so many considerations...so little time..
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