Hi Emily -

I realized I never replied to your post! I wish my husband could change jobs... but he can't. He job is to travel (pilot) - so kind of out of the question . Trust me to marry someone with a worse schedule than a surgeon...

My husband and I are both physicians and had our first baby during residency. We had a FT live-out nanny who stay overnight occasionally if we were both working nights. She was older, retired but needed the supplemental income. It was perfect for our son the first two years. We went through an agency, which was expensive, but we felt we needed an agency since we weren't experienced in interviewing or hiring nannies. We gave her paid vacations but no health coverage.

For our most recent nannies, we have used nanny websites. My favorites are www.gonannies.com and www.enannysource.com You can browse for free to see if there are people in your area you'd be interested in. You pay to post a job listing and get full access to the nannies' profiles (ie, their contact information). You have to run your own background and reference checks, but it's a fraction of the price of a conventional agency. And I felt a little better using the nanny websites than Craig's list (although I did find my most recent after school baby sitter on Craig's list and she is awesome). Good luck! You'll figure it out. There are lots of moms in medicine who have found creative solutions to the issues.

Wow - lots of great posts here! I have been stressing out about finding childcare for our child (due Nov 13). I'm a private practice anesthesiologist and my DH is a engineering manager with office hours (thank god). I'm really fortunate in that my hours are quite flexible. However, as with anything in medicine, things always come up and I'm already stressed about how we will manage those times!

I worry a lot about the costs of childcare - nannies in our area want $15-20/hr. We don't have the space for a live in but we may have to become more open to that after we check out our monthly expenses! The whole process is so daunting and overwhelming. Additionally, we'll need to move to a bigger home so in the short term all our expenses are going to increase and my salary (until I head back to work) will tank.

I have faith everything will work out but like a lot of female physicians I want to be in complete control of this and it's just not going to work out that way .

Ok it was good to see this old post. i posted as Berkleyite last. I couldn't' remember my username and have a different email address now. I guess. Anyway we had a nanny for 6m at the start of my residency. It was harder than I had imagined. Although many of the good things that i wish for now were there such as, her getting the kids together in the mornings and being there if we are late getting home, etc, the things I didn't like were her not taking the initiative to plan activities for the baby, not doing the housework she was supposed to do and things like that. So we were thinking about putting the kids in a day care again. especially since my husband had very flexible hours at that time. Anyway one morning on the way to work she got in an accident. She hurt her leg and was out of commission for 6 weeks. Well that was the same time that we got off of the wait list at a nearby day care that we loved. so it all worked out. Now my husband's hours have changed and the kids at at the day care from 7:30 to past 6!!!! I really dont' like that. I wish that i could have a nanny again but we cant' afford it.

Hello. I am new to MomMD. Seems like a very valuable resource, so I'll give it a shot.
I am a 4th year medical student slated to start a Family Medicine residency in July. We recently had our first baby, a boy, who is now nearly 9 weeks old. In January I am returning for my last 5 rotations before graduation. My husband currently works out of town, and I will be with the baby alone most week nights. We have several options for daytime nannies, but the nights are what worry me as our son is not sleeping more than 4-5 hours yet, and I wonder if I need someone there with me at night in order to get enough rest myself. Even being off from rotations since his birth it's a challenge to get enough sleep. Will I be a brainless zombie back on rotations if I don't get someone to help with nights? All opinions appreciated.

I think I've posted this somewhere else in this thread, but I used to have a daytime nanny and a girl who lived here in exchange for room and board and being available at night if I had to go out.
You will probably be a zombie if you don't get some night time help, if not this spring, definitely after you start FP residency.

Look into maybe finding a college student who will help cover nights in exchange for room and board.

AnnaM,
I do remember seeing your post somewhere (this post is long!). My only concern is that we have a 2 bedroom house and the only room she could sleep in would be the baby's room. Is that too much to ask?

Just a thought here: babies don't actually need a whole room to themselves. When my Mom was having her 7 kids in a 2.5 bedroom house (the third bedroom was barely big enough for a twin bed and dresser), the newest one always slept in a crib in the hall, behind a folding screen. Or, of course, you could move the baby in with you. When we had our live-in it was because my husband took a job in Arizona that lasted 18 months. I moved my 2-year-old daughter in with me to free up a room for the live-in.

Ladies,

This is certainly a long and productive thread on the subject. Let me know if there is any information I can contribute regarding the au pair option. Several of the families I have worked with are dual-working physicians.
I was an au pair myself 10 years ago for 18-months-old triplets and a 5-year-old girl... very cost-effective option especially when you have several children under 6.

I too worked as an au pair abroad... as did my husband. We worked our butts off. Unfort the work rules here in the US are very strict - if I remember right only 45 hours max per week, no more than 10 hours a day. More like a student work study arrangement. Doesn't work out for my family. However, I do know a resident down the street from me who has an au pair (her husband has a reasonable schedule) - first two were ok, the current one is wonderful.

Currently have a nanny... on #4 since May 09. (Ok, 1 only lasted a day... one was great but didn't work out do for legal reasons, #3 was the first really nanny for us - for almost 3 mos - but she wasn't as flexible as she thought... #4 - current is good. Has been with us for almost 6 months...)