New helper and sleep

[MichiganMom]

I have a wonderful new helper that I adore, but I feel she is interfering with our nap rythum. We put the babies down from 9-10 and everyone naps from 1-3.

We have no problem with the big kids, but my helper keeps interfering with the babies. When they fuss a little, she wants to get them from their pack-n-play. She says they are screaming bloody murder. We don’t let the babies cry indefinitely, but we do let them sometimes work it out to get them in a schedule. This is especially true for 6 months and up.

We put them down fed, dry and in a safe environment. We also check on them often. Like really often. I feel like she thinks we are terrible for letting the babies try to soothe themselves to sleep. We are all out of wack here and we need to get back to our schedule. Any advice!

[Cat Herder]

I'd train her on graduated extinction.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123815224000274

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123815224000286

[nannyde]

What should she be doing during the nap times? Do you have her doing cleaning or during morning nap work with/supervise the non nappers?

Many times a staff assistant wants to be able to sit and just hold babies. It's much easier than pretty much anything else she could do. They use the crying as an excuse to get their responsibilities down to just holding and rocking babies.

You have a few options.

You can tell her that during nap times she is not to go into the nap rooms at all and you do the checks. You will decide if a baby gets out of the bed. Can you get her AWAY from the sleeping rooms during naps?

You can offer that during nap times she can go off the clock and just manage the care of the babies as she sees fit. As long as she is volunteering to care for them in the way she believes is the right way and it doesn't cost anything then let her have at it.

She won't do that.

One thing to keep in mind is that if and/or when she is terminated or quits, she will most likely turn you in for "letting" the babies cry. The only way that won't happen is if she sticks around long enough to see that not interfering leads to them all falling asleep quickly and sleeping deeply through nap. You may want to develop a quick check form with times on it where you document daily the times you went in to check the babies and "comforted" the ones who are fussing. Just print out a time sheet with every ten minutes on it during that time and a date at the top and then just do a quick check mark by each time through the naps and maybe a box for "comforted" babies. That way you can document that you didn't LEAVE the babies crying. Cover yourself in case she decides to call the state should she quit or you have to let her go.

[rosieteddy]

What about having her start at 10 am.That way when the babies wake she can help get them changed ect.Or what about sending her outdoors with the non sleepers while you tend to the infants.I think Nanny D is right you need to cover yourself.