Should You Pay Your Nanny to Sleep? Here’s How to Have Successful Overnights With Your Nanny.
A night nanny provides much-needed support to help families adjust to the demands of a new baby. Night nannies can be hired for an extended period, offering flexibility and convenience to meet the varied needs of families. Their primary responsibility is to care for the baby during the night, ensuring that the baby is fed, calm, and safe throughout the night. It is important to note that night nannies are not expected to perform household chores, as their focus is solely on the baby's well-being.
When you need overnight care for a work weekend or a night away with your partner, take a proactive approach and set up logistics with your nanny. You’ll want to determine what your nanny will be paid, ensure you comply with state labor laws, and consider a few perks that will make your nanny’s overnight experience a positive one.
What is a Night Nanny?
A night nanny is a professional caregiver who specializes in providing overnight care for newborns and infants, allowing parents to get a much-needed full night’s rest. These caregivers are trained to handle the unique needs of newborns, ensuring that the baby is fed, calm, and safe throughout the night. Night nannies can work for extended periods, often several months, to help families adjust to the demands of a new baby. Their primary duty is to support the baby’s nighttime routine, which can significantly alleviate the sleep deprivation that many new parents experience.
Benefits of Hiring a Night Nanny
Hiring a night nanny can offer numerous benefits for new parents, making the transition to parenthood smoother and more manageable. Some of the most significant advantages include:
Reduced Stress and Anxiety: Knowing that a professional is caring for your baby overnight can significantly reduce stress and anxiety for parents.
Improved Sleep Quality: With a night nanny on duty, parents can enjoy uninterrupted sleep, which is crucial for their overall well-being.
Increased Productivity: Well-rested parents are more productive and better able to handle daily tasks and responsibilities.
Sleep Training Assistance: Night nannies can help introduce sleep coaching programs, aiding in teaching babies to sleep through the night.
Lower Risk of Postpartum Depression: Adequate rest and reduced stress can lower the risk of postpartum depression and anxiety for mothers.
How to Make Your Overnight a Positive Experience for You and Your Night Nanny
Paying your nanny for overnight time is similar to how nannies get paid for their lunch breaks. Lunch breaks can be interrupted — just like sleep — by your children’s urgent needs. When a nanny provides overnight childcare, they are displaced from their home for the night and unable to participate in their regular evening activities. In other words, they’re at work and on the clock. You can also hire a nanny for a few hours if you need short-term assistance.
Acknowledge the Added Responsibilities of Overnight Care
Take into consideration the potential sleep disruptions your nanny will have. They won’t be sleeping in a familiar environment, they may sleep restlessly because of the additional responsibility of overnight care, or they may need to tend to your children throughout the night. Nannies are often on call during these hours to provide immediate care. Your nanny’s pay for their overnight care should compensate for this additional workload. You are paying your nanny to work — not just to sleep ‘on the job!’
Your nanny acts as a house sitter, pet sitter, and care provider when they stay in your home overnight. Remember to account for their additional security responsibilities, pet duties, and light housekeeping that may be necessary while you are away.
Compensate Your Nanny for Meals
Since overnight care usually includes evening and morning hours that your nanny would not usually be in your home for, they may need to eat meals or order food for themselves. Nannies should be reimbursed for their food expenses or given a stipend for meals eaten while on the job.
Put Overnight Care in Your Household Employee Contract
Families who know they will have overnight care needs, especially if their needs will be frequent, should include overnight logistics and a compensation plan in their nanny contract.
How to Hire a Night Nanny
Hiring a night nanny can seem daunting, but following these steps can help ensure you find the right candidate for your family:
Define Your Needs and Expectations: Start by clearly defining what you need from a night nanny. Consider the number of hours you require, the level of care needed, and any specific duties you expect the nanny to perform.
Research and Interview Candidates: Once you have a clear idea of your needs, begin researching and interviewing potential candidates. Ask for references, check their qualifications, and conduct thorough interviews to find the best fit for your family.
Check Certifications and Qualifications: Ensure that the night nanny you hire has the necessary certifications and qualifications. Look for credentials such as Certified Sleep Consultant or Certified Advanced Newborn Care Specialist.
Discuss Pay and Benefits: Have an open discussion about pay and benefits with the night nanny. This includes their hourly rate, any benefits they may be entitled to, and your expectations for their work.
By following these steps, you can find a qualified night nanny who will provide professional support and peace of mind during those crucial early months with your new baby.
How Much to Pay Your Nanny for Overnight Childcare: Understanding the Hourly Rate
There’s no one-size-fits-all way to pay your nanny for overnight care. The cost of overnight care varies depending on the age of your children, how many children you have, and what a typical night looks like for your children. Some families also consider hiring night nurses for short-term newborn care services.
“With very young children, such as newborns, overnight work can sometimes cost more,” says Sam Zariwala, owner of Little Einsteins Babysitting and Nanny Services.
As you’ll find out in the next section, there are times when you legally do not have to pay your nanny for overnight time. However, we require our My Household Managed families to pay for overnight hours and strongly recommend that you do, too. In some cases, you might prefer a registered nurse for specialized neonatal care.
A Basic Equation to Use
There is a basic payment equation that industry experts and nanny and household employment agencies, like My Household Managed, recommend you start with. This equation is most appropriate if you give your nanny a guest room to sleep in, they are likely to get uninterrupted sleep, and your weekend getaway is over 24 hours. For this circumstance, you should establish a per night flat rate for overnight care with your nanny and add paid waking hours to that amount.
A ‘night’ begins when the children are asleep, and the nanny’s hourly rate resumes when the children wake in the morning. A typical flat rate for an overnight nanny in the Chicago area is $75-150 per night plus hourly waking care.
You and your nanny should determine what fair overnight compensation is. You can customize your agreement to your unique needs as long as you comply with state labor laws.
How to Comply With Illinois Wage and Labor Laws for Your Newborn Care Specialists
Ask yourself these four questions to determine if you are complying with Illinois wage and labor laws for household employees:
Do you have appropriate overnight accommodations for your nanny?
Nannies should have a comfortable guest room while providing overnight care.
Will your overnight needs put your nanny’s weekly hours over 40 total hours worked?
If this is the case, you’ll need to pay time and a half for any hours over 40 that your nanny works.
Will your nanny be at your home for more than 24 hours straight?
“A household employee must be paid for the entire time they are working for any shift that is less than 24 hours. This includes time they need to be on the premises even if they are allowed to sleep or engage in other personal activities,” says GTM Payroll.
When overnight care adjoins two scheduled work days, your nanny will fall into the ‘over 24 hours’ category for pay. Under these circumstances, eight hours of uninterrupted sleeping time can legally be unpaid. Your nanny must agree with this exclusion of sleep time. While excluding sleeping hours under certain circumstances is legal, we still do not recommend it.
Any time your caregiver is awake at night to feed your baby or tend to your children, they are on the clock, and you must pay them for those hours, regardless of whether the total hours worked is more or less than 24 hours. Night nannies sleep during their shifts only if hired for both day and night care, otherwise, they remain on-call to attend to the baby and handle light household tasks while the baby is asleep.
Are you compliant with the most recent Chicago/Illinois requirements for providing household employees with time off?
In a previous article, we covered the new meal break and time off requirements for nannies in Illinois. One of these is that your household employee (nanny) receives one day off every seven rolling days. This requirement still applies when a nanny works overnight shifts for your family.
If you are a family looking for a nanny, house manager or other home service, inquire with My Household Managed.
You’ve got enough on your plate in your day-to-day life — let us make your life easier by handling your unique household staffing needs.
If you are a family looking for a nanny, house manager or other home service, inquire with My Household Managed.
If you are a professional nanny or house manager looking for a job, apply at My Household Managed.
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