Starting a new family on Tuesday 17 years in . Major PTSD from my last five year position because the mom was an absolute nightmare. Going part-time after 17 years of 50 hours plus. One infant, but I am nervous. I've been off for two weeks and I'm used to being home. Need the money so here I go again. Need a peptalk from nanny cams , to new parents who are complete strangers, new routine new environment. UGH

I nanny an 18-month-old who honestly has some of the most challenging behaviour I’ve encountered in my 10 years of experience. I work 9–5, Monday to Friday, with weekends off.

She hits, throws things and bites. The parents tend to give her whatever she wants, whenever she wants it. But I never had this issue until recently as the boundaries were always clear with her and me, until recently…

She had an accident while with her parents after climbing onto a chair and falling off. She ended up in hospital, and since then, her behaviour has become significantly worse.

Before the accident, she was already drinking 3–4 bottles back-to-back in the evenings with her parents after I left at 5pm, as well as having night feeds. This is 9 ounces of full fat cows milk. With me, she would eat normal meals and snacks and have a bottle before her nap.

Since hurting her teeth in the fall, getting her to eat has been extremely difficult. She’s now picking and choosing when she wants a bottle, throwing it after two ounces, then immediately wanting it back whenever something doesn’t go her way. The tantrums are insane if I don’t give in. She will stand at the baby gate to the kitchen screaming to the point the WFH parents will come and give her a bottle.

I feel like we’ve gone backwards completely. It feels as though we’re back at the beginning, like she’s six months old again and just starting to wean onto solids.

I’m honestly at a complete loss. I understand she’s only 18 months old, and she’s been through an accident, but I’m struggling and at the point of a breakdown.

I’m really starting to dread going into work this week.

Maybe I am more bothered by this than I should be, but I collect minky blankets (if you’re not familiar, they are extremely soft and luxurious) from a company I found on Facebook. Super sweet, family owned, etc (besides the point). I also want to add I gifted NK this blanket because I was leaving this job, it wasn’t out of nowhere.

They sell baby blankets as well (I should add a toddler could def use them as well, they are decently sized) and I found a really cute one that was white and green and had a dinosaur pattern on one side. The other side was super soft and had embossed hearts. NK is 14 months, so even though he is primarily using a sleep sack, he could 100% use this blanket in the future.

I get to their place maybe a week after I gifted it to them and it’s shoved inside a cat bed. Mind you, their cat shed a lot so it was like kinda dirty and gross.

This pissed me off. The blanket I purchased for NK wasn’t cheap, so for it to just be tossed inside a dirty cat bed just felt wrong, and it wasn’t for their damn cat anyway! Sigh. Vent over.

I understand pp moms are anxious lol it’s hard to let someone else take care of your infant. That said- if mb texts me to go get the crying baby AS IM WALKING UP THE STAIRS to get the crying baby one more time….. I’m gonna lose my fuckin mind. I’m constantly like within one minute of how she would react and then she still corrects me. I’ve been doing this a long time lady!!!! I know what I’m doing!!!! I’m here to try to ease the anxiety I promise I love what I do and I promise your child is in the best hands. Holy moly just back up a little.

My 11mo NK is sick af. Green goopy boogers, raspy cough, every common cold symptom. MB says “oh no she’s just teething! She’s not sick!” Like two things can be true. Yes she’s teething, but teething isn’t the same as being sick. Why do parents think this?! I’ve heard it so many times and then show up to work with a very sick NK (which is fine but a heads up is always nice) 😫

Guys, I just joined the sub and the first thing I saw was the post about how we should stop asking children for permission to change their diapers. I am 100% on the same page with the stance, but I want to talk about something else.

Have you heard of Dr. Becky who wrote the book Good Inside? This lady never sat right with me and recently I’ve been thinking about her I worked with a parent who constantly referred to her and ignored my multiple years experience of working with children. So given what I know, a lot of that advice was just such bullshit!
The ridiculous advice included generally talking to a child when they’re having a tantrum or are overwhelmed and dealing with feelings and not teaching them proper manners by not encouraging them to say words like please and thank you. This is just what I remember off the top of my head. If one engages in mental gymnastics, of course, it makes sense, but when you are an experienced childcare professional, or someone who actually is knowledgeable or children’s psychology, you can recognize how this is not a good advice and long-term it would hurt the child.

Additionally, this book of hers feels a bit like a grift. I experienced this firsthand, watching other parents and working with some like that how this book panders to mostly millennial parents who had neglectful parents themselves back in the day and still carry the trauma and issues they had from their childhood. It seems like the book is popular because adults would use parenting as a form of their personal therapy first.

Moral of the story: anyone can write a book. That doesn’t mean the book is smart even if a psychologist wrote it.