About Sarah

Reviewed on 3/12/2024

We asked Sarah to take care of our 9-month-old baby for 3 days while our regular nanny was on medical leave. We did not have a good experience and concluded that she is not knowledgeable with this age group. The first thing we noticed is that she didn’t interact much with the baby (experienced nannies know that direct stimulation is as important as free solo play for baby development). Later in the day, she came into my office (I work from home) and handed me the baby saying that she tried all activities but he was still fussing and so she didn’t know what else to do. She first said the baby was constipated. She later said he was in pain due to teething and asked me to give him Tylenol. I trusted her suggestion and gave him Tylenol. On the second day, she took the baby on a walk without letting us know beforehand. I only realized she had left with the baby because I got an alert from my security camera. Later in the afternoon, the baby was fussy, and she suggested giving him Tylenol again. When I went to check if the baby was truly in pain, I noticed he seemed sleepy. When I told her he was sleepy, she got defensive and proceeded to school me about the nap time schedule of 9-month-old children, suggesting that the napping schedule I gave her was wrong and that he was overtired. If she thought the issue was sleep, why was she asking me for Tylenol again? It turned out the baby was also hungry - he took 5 ounces of formula before sleeping. She later asked me if we had not ‘discovered’ Ms. Rachel yet. All we got from this question and the insistence in using Tylenol was that she did not want to do the work of caring for a child. She generally looked impatient and bored when she was with the baby. She may do better with older children who can verbally communicate their needs and who can entertain themselves.