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Night Nannies for twins and triplets sound like an amazing idea!!! And I wish I had known about them when my babies were little.

But what do they actually do? And how can they help your family? Twinfo recently interviewed AnnMarie, the Founder of Night Nannies. AnneMarie is also a twin mum herself!

What is the difference between a Night Nanny and an overnight babysitter? 

Great question! An overnight Nanny is someone who holds qualifications in early childhood development or nursing and provides a tailored service specifically for infants. This service provides all aspects of respite, routine guidance, settling techniques and feeding assistance. Postnatal Education and Care sums up our Overnight Nanny service.

Babysitting to us is a basic evening service after 6pm where we come in and the parents go out for a nice relaxing dinner knowing that their older (sleeping children) are being cared for and supervised.

How can Night Nannies for twins and triplets help my family?

The responsibilities for Night Nannies for twins or triplets will vary from family to family, but generally provides respite overnight, bringing babies to the parent for feeds or we do the feeds as per the parents wishes. We then manage all the re-settling overnight. We are the parents extended team helping with moral support, settling techniques, routine when the babies are ready and we will also sterilise, stack the dishwasher, tidy up the nursery, bathe and dress babies and even make mum some toast and a cuppa in the morning.

What is the process of working with Night Nannies for twins and triplets?

The process is personalised. When a parent first calls us we go through a series of intake questions to ascertain what the parents are truly needing and what type of person they would feel most comfortable with. Then if the booking is made in advance we arrange a meet and greet prior to the booking to introduce a member(s) of our team.

We then book in the times and date needed and the nanny will call the family to confirm and arrive ready to support the family overnight.

What is the process of using your services?  Is there a contract?  How do we pay the nanny?

Bookings and inquiries are either over the phone or via our website. Advance long block bookings of 6- 12 weeks do involve an agreement. Ad hoc bookings are similar to booking a babysitter where you call, let us know what you need and we will provide an overview of 1 or 2 people for you to select from. There is a deposit payable to confirm your booking and then your day or night nanny arrives at the agreed time and date at your home. Our families say they can get through a tough week just knowing that we are coming the next night or at the end of the week to give them a hand.

What happens if the nanny isn’t a good fit for our family?

Choosing a nanny is a very personal decision. A little bit like dating. One of the families we work with often says to us that ‘every working mother needs a wife’. Or a mum or the village. I know for our family we do not have a village as our family lives overseas and the ones in Australia are elderly and unable to assist. So for our family we have been reliant on nannies becoming an extension of our team.

We all know that some people can look good on paper and not so great on the job and others resumes fail them, yet they are amazing on the job. The world of nanny and family is also about personality and how you both feel together when you are in your home. How do the children feel? Does the nanny engage with them? Do you get along with this personality? Can they become an extension of your parenting team? So if after interview or a trial you are not ‘feeling it’ then we present other potential candidates to you for consideration until we can find your perfect nanny.

Night Nannies has a large range of nannies.  Can you explain the difference between them?

We have a multi-disciplinary team with 3 levels:

1. Postnatal and Sleep team – Midwives, Mothercraft nurses and newborn Maternity Nannies. This team all specialise in infants and sleep routines. Some also hold lactation certification.
2. Nanny Educator team – Child Care Educators and Teachers who work in the home. Providing day to day care, educational outings and socialisation, general help around the home such as laundry, meal prep and shopping.
3. Babysitting team – typically are from our Nanny Educator team but we also have some younger early 20’s Mother helpers who are starting out with babysitting and have experience working with 3 years and up providing evening care and supervision after 6pm.

Do the different types of nannies have different qualifications?

Yes Our Midwives hold degrees in Nursing and Midwifery. Our Mothercraft or as its now called hold Parentcraft – Enrolled nursing and further post grad parentcraft training from government funded sleep hospitals such as Tresillian, and Karitane. Our Sleep Consultants and Maternity Nannies hold training and qualifications including early childhood development and further certified training in sleep and postnatal newborn care.

What other services do you offer?

We have a few other services like our Lactation Consults, Nutrition, Baby proofing your home and travel nannies. Travel Nannies are my favourite additional service as they can help you out when you are on holidays and/or on the plane. They participate as an extra pair of hands on the holiday to give you a grown up holiday too. Breaks are arranged throughout their stay so you can have family holiday time and grown up time. The kids love having an extra play mate and it means the parents get the best of both worlds.

Find out more about Night Nannies HERE

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Author:  Lauren Cartledge

Now that the girls are 3 months old, we have learnt so much about life as twin parents in such a small amount of time. Your entire world changes (for the better) and it isn’t all about you anymore. Here are some of the few things we deal with on a daily basis:

Strangers wanting to touch / look at the girls at the shops (or anywhere out of the house).

As flattered as we are that people love seeing the girls, we get stopped whenever we are out multiple times a trip by random people asking about them.

Their top questions or comments:
“Natural or IVF?”
“You have an instant family you don’t need anymore!”
“You are SO lucky I’ve always wanted twins”
“Are you sad one isn’t a boy?”
“Oh girls! You are so lucky you don’t need to try again”
“Do twins run in the family?”
“Did you plan to have 2 at once?” (the best one yet haha)

Don’t get me wrong, we secretly love life as twin parents and the attention they bring (especially from friends and family) but when a total stranger approaches us, lifts up the covered sheet on the pram and sticks their hands in to touch the girls we get really shocked, and usually a polite “Oh please don’t touch them we wouldn’t want to wake them up” follows.

Author: Amber Waugh

My twin story started a little over 4 years ago at my 12 week pregnancy scan. My husband, Chris and I already had a son, Caden, who was about 18 months old at the time. Chris had only ever wanted one child, and with me wanting three we decided to meet in the middle and have one more child to complete our family. Well as fate would have it, I seemed to get my way that day. We were very shocked to hear we had two little beans nestled inside me, each with their own sacs and placentas. We later found out that they were identical, via genetic tested after they were born.

Author: Jess Hanrahan 

Nobody tells you what it’s going to be like, having twins. Probably because not many people know. But even other multi mums will only tell you how amazing and special it is. Because it is. But nobody tells you about the depths of struggle that you are about to experience. And yes, the joy really does override it all. But you best be believing that the hard times are real AF too. 

I became a solo twin mum when my twins were 5 weeks old.

I packed up my girls at 5 weeks old and fled with what little belongings I had the strength to gather up at 5 weeks post emergency C section slash nearly dying slash two weeks spent in hospital. They had no idea that Mummy shouldn’t be driving, or that Mummy was about to become a 30 year old solo twin mum, or that Mummy was, for the first time in her life, genuinely afraid. They also had no idea what a happy, harmonious home life looked like or felt like, so I held that in the fore of my mind while all the other “hards” battled it out for top spot in the back. 

When you have multiples, there is so much to do and worry about. Take the worry out of installing your car seats for twins and more and get a professional to do it. That way, you know your precious cargo is safe.

Twinfo recently interviewed the lovely Michele from Child Safety Solutions Australia to find out more.

On our website, we talk a lot about the rewarding parts and exceptional bits about parenting twins and multiples. The practical side of it can be so hard, it is important to remember to focus on the good bits, so we don’t get overwhelmed with piles of stinky nappies and complete lack of sleep.

But what if you can’t even find any good bits? What if you are just not enjoying anything about being a parent of twins or triplets?

This is completely normal too.

Having multiples is a precious gift and brings with it all sorts of benefits, surprises, and joy. But don’t feel bad if you are finding focusing on the good bits a little difficult.

The last thing you need to do is add to your stress by feeling guilty for not loving every moment (or even any moment…)

Anecdotally, parents of multiples report higher levels of physical stress, tiredness, difficulty bonding and even anxiety and depression than parents of single babies. This article looks at some reasons why you might not be enjoying being a parent of twins or triplets.