Does anyone here have a baby sitter if you work night shift?

Magsulfate, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2009

Ohhh man, $10 sounds really high!

It depends on how many children you have, I guess.

For my three kids when they were younger, I would pay $50 a night. My reasoning was, the kids went to sleep three hours after I left, and she was allowed to go to sleep too. SO, come on! $10 an hour??

Give me a break! That is wayyy too much!!

Edit: If there's an infant that will be waking up during the night, it might be a little different. But, I bet you will be able to find a young mom, or even a retired lady to sit for your children for wayyy less than $10 an hour at night. Or wait, even better,, a teenager,,, someone 16 or so.

MobileNurseSara · Apr 29, 2009

I babysat from the time I was 10-11 years old (was always very mature and took all the Red Cross stuff) and I never knew what to ask so I asked for what my Mom got in the 70's when she babysat. $2.50/kid/hr. Now, this is really low but I just love kids was happy that I got to go play and I really didn't care. I asked for the same for overnight, whole weekends, etc.

So maybe $5/hr would be reasonable, but not $10. Any teenager would be happy to get $40-50 let alone $120+!!!!!!!!! JMO.

StrwbryblndRN · Apr 29, 2009

I would not pay hourly. Set a nightly fee instead. Makes more sense since it would not entail tasks. Just the bulk of time. It would also make the job seem worth while if advertised in that form.

I would not go above $50 if the kids are school aged.

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2009

These are all great ideas...willing to take any and all suggestions!

jejch1214 · Apr 29, 2009

I agree with 2.50/kid/hour. That's what we paid here in idaho. I also think it's fair to want your sitter cpr certified-it's pretty common these days. Good luck!

sunshine0509 · Apr 29, 2009

Im located in New Jersey, and my hourly rate for babysitting was always 10/hr. I think most of my friends also received 8-15

I dont know where you are in the country. If it was an infant I would probably request 10/hr all night. If it is school age kids I would request 10 hr while awake then 5 during sleeping hours.

Just my 2 cents good luck :)

tntrn, ASN, RN · Apr 29, 2009

Not knowing where you are in the States, but in some states it's illegal to leave children under a certain age unattended at home or in an automobile. I think, here in Washington, the car age is 14. (I had a learner's permit at 14). Anyway, hiring a teenager to watch even younger children might be impacted by that. Worth checking out anyway. Good luck.

StNeotser, ASN, RN · Apr 29, 2009

My daughter is 14 but obviously I couldn't leave her in the house alone at night. I take her to her cousins house which is about two minutes walk from her high school if I pick up a night shift. I'm quite lucky there I guess.

patwil73 · Apr 29, 2009

Both my wife and i work nights so a nanny is a must. Our kids are 7 and 5 (almost 8 and 6). We leave for work at 11:15 pm and don't get back until 11:00 am or so. So our nanny must be there while they sleep, get them up in the morning, fed and showered, lunches (that we made the night before) in the backpacks and out to the bus. Also the dog must be let out and fed (just giving you a sense of what she does).

She is responsible for watching them Wed night-Thur morn, Thurs night - Fri morn, Sunday day, night - Mon Morn, Mon night-Tue morn. During the summer she has them during those days also.

We pay $350 for that stretch of work. In July it will have been a year and she will get a raise at that time. We also pay incidental expenses (usually $100 a stretch).

She will also babysit when we decide to have a date night for no extra cost.

So during the school year she is paid for watching them sleep for 8 hrs and 1 hr of getting them ready and to the bus = 32 hrs of sleep and 4 hours of being awake, plus 8 hrs on Sunday. However during the summer it is = 32 hours of sleep and 38 hrs of keeping them quiet while we sleep. We figure the summer compensates for the winter.

We just offered a flat fee for the shifts we needed. When she decided to move in we added the caveat she had to be available (with sufficient notice on our part) for any OT we picked up.

Hope this helps

Pat

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2009

Both my wife and i work nights so a nanny is a must. Our kids are 7 and 5 (almost 8 and 6). We leave for work at 11:15 pm and don't get back until 11:00 am or so. So our nanny must be there while they sleep, get them up in the morning, fed and showered, lunches (that we made the night before) in the backpacks and out to the bus. Also the dog must be let out and fed (just giving you a sense of what she does).
She is responsible for watching them Wed night-Thur morn, Thurs night - Fri morn, Sunday day, night - Mon Morn, Mon night-Tue morn. During the summer she has them during those days also.
We pay $350 for that stretch of work. In July it will have been a year and she will get a raise at that time. We also pay incidental expenses (usually $100 a stretch).
She will also babysit when we decide to have a date night for no extra cost.
So during the school year she is paid for watching them sleep for 8 hrs and 1 hr of getting them ready and to the bus = 32 hrs of sleep and 4 hours of being awake, plus 8 hrs on Sunday. However during the summer it is = 32 hours of sleep and 38 hrs of keeping them quiet while we sleep. We figure the summer compensates for the winter.
We just offered a flat fee for the shifts we needed. When she decided to move in we added the caveat she had to be available (with sufficient notice on our part) for any OT we picked up.
Hope this helps
Pat

Did I read that right? $350 a week?

Lovelymo79 · Apr 29, 2009

I babysit for 4 families and I charge $12 an hour. 2 of the families have 2 children..2 of them have 1. Sometimes I babysit at night and the kids go to sleep an hour or so after I arrive..sometimes I babysit during the day on Saturday or Sunday..and it's still $12 an hour. Whether they are asleep or not.

Now, if I was doing overnight..I would do a flat rate, beginning at 11pm or so.

It all depends on the situation. Regardless of whether I'm asleep or not..I'm still responsible for those children in the event something arises in the middle of the night. However, I would definitely NOT charge $10/hr overnight.

I also live in the northern NJ/NY area..so my rates are competitive. There are people that charge MUCH more...