How much to pay a sitter? (Craig: daycare, house, college)

[Skittle]

I want to hire a babysitter and I'm wondering how much to pay her. All she needs to do is to watch my daughter while I catch up on some sleep. She also has to get her to nap. I will change the diapers, feed etc. My daughter is 4 months old.

I'm very sleep deprived and my husband is deployed.

[Charles]

Around $8/hour. If you get an inexperienced younger girl or boy, then maybe $7 depending on how much you will be interacting. If you are there and not sleeping than you are hiring a mothers helper and they go for about $5/hour and they are usually younger girls not quite ready for full babysitting.

Since the baby is four months old, the baby may need to be attended to other than feeding and diapers.

We paid $10/hour for three girls, 8y, 6y, and 4y for two hours. But all that required was doing stuff on the computer, setting up a movie, reading. Babies can be tougher.

[sskkc]

I pay a sitter $5/hour for our two (6 and 8). Our sitter is a Girl Scout, has taken the babysitter training courses through the Red Cross and is certified in CPR. If you live in Briargate, I can "hook you up".

Have you tried contacting your FRG and seeing if someone there can help?

[Skittle]

sskkc: I've tried to call my FRG but haven't received a response yet. I live on Ft. Carson

Charles: I hear you *lol*. But like I mentioned, I would be right upstairs. The only thing she would have to do is entertain her if she gets bored in her bouncer and get her to nap if I'm asleep etc. That's it and it seems VERY easy to me. I do everything else.

[froggin4colorado]

I pay my sitters $3.00 an hour per kid during work hours and $4.00 an hour/per kid during the weekends and after 6pm. I have three kids ages 11, 7, 5 so essentially I pay $9-12 an hour. Then, I round up to the nearest ten. So, if the sitter shows up at 5pm Saturday and I get home at 9:30pm, I pay my sitter $60.
I would suggest having your baby go somewhere else while you sleep so you can sleep soundly.

I understand sleep deprivation, been there and done that. There are sitters in our area that would be willing to let you drop off your baby while you slept. Please check the library website for providers that you can call and they will give you drop in rates. There are also some who advertise through craiglist.

Good luck and rest up.

[Pogo]

I pay our sitter $6 an hour, but $5 sounds totally fine to me for the job they would be doing with your little one.

[kristie73]

I pay $5 an hour per child. However, I am looking for a sitter, my usual sitter is 18 years old now and she's not as interested in babysitting anymore. I have 2 year old and 6 year old boys.

How do you find a sitter?

[Pogo]

We've got our sitter through our church. If you attend one, I'd just hang a little note on the board or ask in Youth Coordinator to ask around for you.

Also if you make a careful selection, Craigslist is an option. There are a lot of of college students that are looking for a little extra money. We will actually look into that since I will have my 2nd baby in 8 weeks via C-section and DH works always for 2,5 weeks in Argentina. So I will need reliable help with my almost 3 year old in the afternoons.

But be careful and select well, you don't wanna just take anyone. We will choose 2-3 students that seem responsible and experiencend and have them come over for a small interview. Also asking maybe for phone numbers from people they sitted for before, so we can ask how satisfied people were. In my case it's not all that wild, since I will be here in the house anyway..maybe just catching up on some sleep/taking care of the new baby.

Your Pediatrician's office or a local Mom's group also can usually refer someone

[Bideshi]

I'm not trying to start a ruckus, but why shouldn't a baby sitter make minimum wage? Look at the great responsibility and the liability if something goes wrong (God forbid).

[froggin4colorado]

Here is my answer to that...IMO...
Because most sitters who do daycare exceed that. Usually they make $1,000 a week. Teens who babysit- this is a source of income that they can't get otherwise because of thier inability to work at a job and it isn't a "job" per se, just extra cash. I remember growing up babysitting and never making minimum wage, it was all under the table and sometimes I was tipped. I watched kids/babies for $2.00 an hour (and not per kid) and that was up through 1995ish. I played with the kids (not watched tv), cooked, cleaned (to include vacuuming), took them and picked them up from practices, etc. I, like many others who have more than one kid, do pay per hour/per kid so it ends up being more than minimum wage. (Ex. Me-$12 an hr.)
If you look at teachers, they are paid about a dollar an hour per kid--that's off of contact time...not the extra time they put in at trainings, planning, meetings, etc. And they aren't paid to just watch kids like babysitters! (Salary of 40K) If teachers were paid the same as babysitters, they would make a lot more money! I know several daycare providers who definitely make more money monthly watching 8 kids than a teacher who teaches 25-30 kids.
Does that help answer your question?