Infant & child care
Child care is the placement where experience matters most and is easiest to overstate. A helper who has looked after a five-year-old has not necessarily handled a newborn — night feeds, sterilising, winding, safe sleep and a mother recovering from delivery are a different job with far less margin for error. We shortlist on the ages she has actually cared for, verified against her MOM employment history, and we recommend every family interviews her themselves before deciding.
Ask her what ages she cared for in each previous household and for how long. Her employment history shows the placements; she can tell you what the job actually involved.
Who is the decision-maker on the child's routine. Whether she does night duty, and if so how it is shared. Screen time. What happens when the child is ill. Whether grandparents are also involved and whose instruction takes priority — that last one causes more friction in Singapore households than almost anything else, and it is entirely avoidable by agreeing it upfront.
We will tell you plainly if a candidate's experience does not match what you need. Placing a helper with no infant experience into a newborn household because it fills a vacancy is how placements fail in month two — and with a baby involved, that is not a risk worth taking to close a deal faster.
Child care is usually combined with housekeeping and cooking. Be realistic about how much of each is possible alongside a baby.
Match on the ages she has actually cared for. A newborn is a different job from a five-year-old, with far less margin for error.
Questions
Yes. Ask for candidates with documented infant experience, and confirm the ages she cared for at the interview. Newborn care is a distinct skill from general child care and worth verifying rather than assuming.
Many helpers will, but it must be agreed before she starts, along with how she gets adequate rest. A helper doing nights and a full day of housework will not sustain it, and tired care is unsafe care.
A confinement nanny is a short specialist engagement for the first month or two. A helper is a long-term placement. Many families use a nanny for confinement and have the helper start alongside or just after.
Less than most families expect. A newborn plus a large home plus daily cooking is usually too much for one person to do well. We would rather say that during the brief than have the placement fail later.
Talk to us
Ages, routines, whether you need night duty, and what else the role involves. We will shortlist on real infant and child experience.
