I’m currently going through that awful back-to-work-after-mat-leave stage where you feel like you’re spinning a thousand plates and trying to do a million things but not doing any of them very well. There is so much pressure to be a good mum/partner/daughter/employee/friend and I have days when I worry that one of those plates will topple and everything will come crashing down. So Rich and I recently took the step of deciding to hire a nanny for one day a week.

The situation came about because I was hoping to still be breastfeeding at this stage. The plan was for the nanny to look after Jenson at our house every Friday and for me to carry on feeding him throughout the day (I’m lucky in that I can work from home). However if you read my post a couple of weeks back you’ll know that he’s now solely bottle-fed (best laid plans and all that).

The nanny was recommended to us by a friend of a friend, and the first time I met her she probably thought I was the most disorganised person in the world. I turned up late to the cafe, bedraggled, with a bedraggled Lyra and screamy Jenson (we had been sheltering from torrential rain under a tree as I had forgotten my brolly). She calmly took Jenson off my hands and started chatting to Lyra about fairy cakes. I checked her CRB and first aid documents and have since got references for her from the two other mums that she nannies for.

So she starts on Friday. Wish us all luck! Of course the title of this post is very tongue in cheek and I don’t expect Jenson’s nanny to transform our lives, however I did think it would make for an interesting topic as I don’t know anyone else that has a nanny.

Do YOU have a nanny? How much autonomy do you give them?

Any tips on helping with transitioning Jenson (and the rest of the family!) to the new nanny would also be gratefully received!