Infant care vs hiring a domestic helper

I agree with both you and your husband's opinions on the pros and cons of ifc and helper. I started off with ifc, but the kid fell sick so often (around once every 3 weeks), and each time tt happened, me or my hubs would need to take leave to tc of the baby, or ask the grandparents for help. It was really disruptive to our work, and both of us also kept falling sick from the lower immunity and lack of rest. At about 6 months, we gave up and hired a helper, mainly because the kid kept falling sick and we need ad hoc help. So now we have both ifc and helper. No need to rush to send and pick up the kid from ifc, and someone to help with night feeds and chores. if the kid falls sick, the helper is able to tc as well. If your financial situation allows, I think having both is a good option, but I know this is a luxury. If I can only pick one,I'll still pick ifc, coz sometimes I get to rest while the kid is in school haha. If the kid is at home,my mum guilt doesn't allow me to just leave the kid with the helper and I go do my own stuff.

I have initially wanted to send my child to infant care but in the end I hired a helper and it was a wise choice. We couldn’t cope after my confinement nanny left because of the constant night feeds every 2 hours and making us very exhausted and mentally drained. The helper could help us take care of our baby and domestic chores at home and it will be extra bonus if your helper can cook well. We have an Indonesia helper who can cook well as Indonesian food suits our palate. In times when your child needs to go for vaccination and comes back with a fever your helper can help at night whereas infant care can’t. The privacy issue of having a helper at home was not comfortable for us but took us a few months to adjust to it. We keep telling ourselves that this will not be for more than 10 years but at least for 5 years to help us through his baby/toddler phrase. Hope my advice helps!

I have the same dilemma… I wanted to enrol into ifc and return back to the workforce to be entitled for the working mum subsidy. But after thinking for awhile… ifc = bb will fall sick often + centre closures so I’ll need to be always prepared to bring bb back home which can be very tough for working parents 😔 so now I’m leaning more towards getting a helper who can help me with baby and chores when me and my husband go to work but of course getting a good helper is a hit and miss. IFC offers activities/develop social skills but tbh coming from someone who is from the preschool sector, I feel it’s good enough to enrol your child when they are turning 18 months. Anything younger than that is not really necessary because more than half the time the teachers are just busy with routine😂

Thank you everyone for replying 💜 I totally missed out the very valid point about baby possibly falling sick often at infant care and this would be disruptive as well. Seems like it might be prudent to have baby build up immunity before starting childcare/playgroup around 18 months. I still struggle with the thought of having a helper, who is a stranger essentially, staying with us & being baby’s sole caregiver when we are at work, as one mummy pointed out too. Perhaps husband and I need to relook and see if we can adjust our finances to maybe consider half day infant care + helper. Best of both worlds then!

For me, I hired a helper because I wfh. If I'm busy at work and baby is awake, the helper will only take care of baby and do light cleaning when the baby is sleeping. I want to spend as much time as possible with my daughter. There are pros and cons as to IFC or helper. I hired the helper also because she can help with household chores. My husband and I will be tired and busy to do housework. There are people who prefer IFC because it can build the baby social skills from young as well but to me, I feel there are other ways I can build up her social skills or provide any stimulation.

For us, we joined the waitlist for quite a few infant care. Reason we prefer infant care over domestic helper is that domestic helpers are not professionals though long term cost seems cheaper. There is also a safety concern and it is a matter of trust to leave own family to a single stranger in your own home VS trained infant and child care professionals actively engaging the little ones. Infant care is subsidised so I think it's still ok in terms of finances

I agree to get best of both worlds if finances allow…those who said baby will keep falling sick after starting ifc, the fact is actually they will still get sick often even if u enroll them to playgroup at a later age😅 it just seems an unavoidable phase as our babies are exposed to outside germs 2/3 time of a day now. Need to be mindful that getting a helper doesn’t guarantee the “1 to 1 care” is superior either

I think hiring helper is better, I got a helper too. Can help in chores etc so you’re not too overwhelmed and also baby has more attention at home compared to IFC! I don’t think the baby will benefit much in IFC at such a young age.. If have the luxury of choice probably helper + stay at home better :)

I hired helper because I wasn’t keen to send my baby to ifc at such a young age - due to diseases! Before 1 year or 18 months, the baby would be too young anyway in IFC to pick up any valuable skills for reapplication, so hire helper who can help with household chores and simple take care of baby.

i was in this dilemma too. NEITHER. we rework our finances and decided that i will resign once my ML is over. i won't want to missed out on my child's milestone and worry about my kid falling sick. once she reach 2 years then i will return to workforce and will send her to childcare 😊