I'm expecting my 1st in Aug and my dad has gladly volunteered to take care of my baby after my maternity leave. The plan is to bring my baby to their place before I go to work and pick baby up after. My step-mom however, is not very happy about it and insists that I hire a helper for them at their house, as I will be able to qualify for subsidied levy. (But i'm not comfortable with having a helper around a 4 mth old) What should I do? Infant care? Really consider hiring a helper? What would you do if you're in my shoes?

I wasnt comfortable letting a helper taking care of my baby, especially since there are no elders at home, hence I enrolled him in infantcare. However, do note that baby tends to fall sick easily during the initial months (I took too many urgent leaves) and every day is very rushed for us as we have to rush to send him there before work and pick him up before ifc closes. One plus point is baby is very motivated to rolland crawl seeing older babies doing it. And he is definitely very friendly with other people. Alot of people ask me to get a maid instead as they say it will be better for me as the chores will be done and she can help with the night feeds, but I just dont want to take the risk. I guess it boils down to one's comfort level and circumstances. Jia you!

Hiring a nanny will cause the same problems as well, and i feel it's more offended as well, it's like why you don't give the money to your daddy for helping you to look after instead of giving it to a stranger. Ifc got better reason because there are qualified teachers, at the same time, they help to teach ur LO during their growing up journey. More friends to play with etc. Helper. Is you and your step-mom Relation close? Will your step-mom leave your baby to your helper alone? You must be extremely confident with leaving ur LO to your helper alone, if not cause unnecessary worries also. Choose something you are comfortable with.

Both my kids are in infant care since young. There will be professionals taking care of them and early exposure is good for babies in our opinion. They get to mix around well and also get to learn more. We dun want to have consistent disagreement with parents so it's better to put at ifc. Helper is a no no because we do not like the idea staying with strangers n also we dun trust helpers. But the cons will be when baby is sick we will have to take urgent leave to pick them back & in infant care they are more prone to get ill that's y we chose an ifc without aircon in the play area. That reduces their chances of getting sick.

The helper will be under the supervision of your Dad and step Mom, instead of being alone with your baby. Sounds fine. I assume that the intention is to have the helper assist with chores such as washing up and cooking, with your parents focusing on caring for your baby. That said, apart from caregiving conflicts, be mentally prepared that maid will be another source of conflict. To minimise that, ensure they are actively involved in the maid selection process, such that should they have complaints, they can't complain much because they were part of the decision makers.

Choose a good helper.. Anyway helper will be under ur parents supervision so nothing to worry. I also felt the same for hiring helper at first, and the plan was to put helper at my in law place. My in law always have negative image of helper, so im prepared to get complains comments they'll made. Later on, after observing my helper during maternity leave, my husb and i then decided just to leave helper and our 3m old baby alone with installed cctv. All works well.... I can save in-law nagging also.. Choose a good helper

If it were me, to keep the peace, I would enrol my child in infant care. If I insist on leaving my baby with my dad, then I'd risk getting my step-mom upset and that would cause problems between them in the long run. I don't want them arguing over my baby. At least at infant care, I know that I am leaving my child in the care of professionals and there are other people there, as opposed to leaving baby alone at home with just a helper. Thus, even though it's not my first choice, I'd go for infant care.

Simple lar.. Hire a helper for your house...get your dad to come over and take care of baby.. ;p yes helper is a must so that your dad have better quality of life in the future.. If they care for baby.. Their body wear and tear faster... Get him supplements for being such a good sport.

get a helper, the helper doesn't need to care for your child just tell your father your concerns. the helper can just do housechores for your step mom.

I send my little one to infant care, since 3 1/2 months - It's only been 2 weeks, but so far no regrets. She seems to have adapted well.

Actually i would prefer hiring a helper to help up my mom with caring for my baby. If not it will be too taxing on my parents.