Enthusiastic but lacks competence
Ayten looked after my baby for about four months. She started when he was 5 months old.
Positives
She is enthusiastic and engaging, was great at entertaining my boy. Genuinely loves babies. Always on time and in a good mood. Folded baby’s clothes nicely.
Pleasant person to talk to. Never minded to stay a bit longer when I was running late, and turned down extra payment for doing so.
Negatives
Lack of knowledge and experience: Although she claimed to have sufficient experience looking after babies, it turned out that she didn’t know even basic things like how to tell when a baby wants to sleep, not to mention basic principles of weaning and nutrition, so I always had to give step by step instructions. Lack of knowledge about what food texture and size is safe to give a baby to avoid choking risk.
Poor attention to detail and instructions:
Ayten was often unable to follow my instructions, confusing proportions or forgetting something. Also I emphasised that my boy has a kidney problem and needs to stay warm around the waist, but several times she brought him home with his coat all the way up and not covering this area. She wasn’t able to remember how to assemble milk bottles, so I had to prepare them for her.
Safety and health concerns:
On her last shift she took my baby to the library playground where he sat on the floor for a couple of hours. When they returned I found that his bottom and legs were freezing cold, and that he was completely wet despite his freshly changed nappy, so evidently he peed himself from the cold. Same night he started sneezing and had cold symptoms.
Questionable work ethics and boundaries: Ayten shared pictures of my baby with her sister without asking me first and complained about parenting styles of other families she works for.
When I tried to discuss these concerns with her calmly and politely, she insisted that she always did everything right, and blamed my concerns on me for being overly anxious, so unfortunately I saw no other option but to end our relationship.
Response from Ayten
Responded
I won't go in details because I have no time nor intention to waste my time on your hypocrisy and lies. One thing I can not tolerate in this life is lies! You have some serious issues and I won't discuss them here.
I thought you were overworried about your child's being sick and yet on the same day you didn't lose any time but rushed here to write such a long review! That says enough about you!
(Your son was seated 10-15 minutes with his coat on the library's playground where all the other babies were seated, playing with the toys while supported and holded behind by me. You can go to the library and ask for a camera review. Plus those playgrounds were meant for the babies, toddlers to sit, play and enjoy themselves and those carpets are exactly the same types of carpets you have in your living room where your child is seated all the time!
Children sneeze, get cold, get flue but families don't blame nannies for that, this is utterly ridiculous. You are projecting your insecurities on me but I won't take it.
This is called retaliating because I would not go on with your terms and have ended my relationship with you!
It's been 8 years since I have worked as a nanny and babysitter. I have worked with many families and I have never experienced any kinds of problems with any of them and are still in contact with some of them. So again that says a lot about you!
I am ending this with a quotes from Rumi.
"If your window looking out to the world is dirty, my flowers will look like mud to you. "
Mevlana Rumi
