Domestic helper or parents for night feeds?

Question

My husband and I have hired a FDW to care for our newborn. She is currently taking care of the baby in the day and I play with the baby during her awake windows in the day (around 30-45 mins per 3 hrs per day). During this time frame she does her daily chores which includes hand washing baby’s clothes, washing milk bottles, etc. My husband has already returned to work and I am still on maternity leave. Can I check if it is reasonable to let her take the baby for night feeds on weekdays too? Background: She does NOT have to do household chores like laundry, cleaning and cooking as we have help (MILs + another helper) to do so and it has been made known to her that it is not required and not part of her job scope. Sometimes she helps out with ironing and folding of our clothes but that is to her own discretion and done voluntarily. Her current job scope includes bathing and feeding/burping the baby, hand washing baby’s clothes and swaddles, washing milk bottles, making baby sleep, etc. She is hired solely to take care of the baby and we take the baby on Friday and Saturday nights for night feeds. She also has Sundays off.

Anonymous · Answer

Hope you’ve found a solution to this. I feel that it’s ok to let helper manage night feed, provided you trust that the baby is safe in her hands. What I would do is to let her take naps in the afternoon when there is low demand from baby, similar to how a confinement nanny would. This helps to ensure she gets sufficient rest and have the capacity to manage night feeds. Too many horror stories of overtired nannies causing accidents in the middle of the night so I’ll err on the safe side.