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Helpers' working time

  1. #1
    sandy0741 is offline Registered User
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    Helpers' working time

    Hi everyone,

    Is there anyone who has got a helper who always wakes up late?
    Mine is like this, and I always need to go to her room to wake her up, she usually goes to bed at 11, even earlier than me, when I need to feed my son .She has to wake up at 6, as this is the time my son needs the first feed, but she is never on time, even though i got her an alarm clock, she always says it stopped or she can't hear? anyone got similar experience?


  2. #2
    AndreaY is offline Registered User
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    Not being able to wake up occasionally cos the alarm did not go off is understandable, always doing it just sounds like she is making an excuse not to wake up. Having said that, my helpers have a slightly longer stretch of sleep/rest than 11pm-6am, in effect with trying to fall asleep and brushing teeth etc, that is probably just 6 hours sleep. Just get her one of those deafening alarm clocks, so that the "I can't hear it" reason can no longer apply. If it still happens, it just means that she is making any excuse not to get up and you may have to consider either letting her have a little bit more sleep or finding another helper who is better.


  3. #3
    HK2008 is offline Registered User
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    Hi Sandy,
    I guess every household is different. But I believe they should rise and rest around the baby's routine. My one goes to bed before 10pm. I have two kids and my hubby and I love to bath them ourselves. So as soon as she cleans up the kitchen and takes the garbage out, her work is finished. Then the next morning, my kids won't wake up until at least 8am(my youngest is 1 year and 4 months old). My helper gets up at 7am every day. She'll have breakfast first and then do some bits and pieces around the living room area. She'll then dress the kids when they're up and feed them breakfast; I always get up at around 9am, but I go to bed at 12 midnight or 1am; and I'm the one getting up to my kids at night.
    I would try to make sure she gets at least 8-9 hours sleep, so they can still be very energetic for the second day's work. Just my experience...


  4. #4
    MLBW Guest

    Yeah, it sounds like your helper needs more rest. Either she needs to go to sleep earlier which may mean making her evening workload less (or her taking the responsibility to be in bed earlier if in the evening she only has free time). Or it may mean that you take the early shift with your child so she can sleep a little longer. Eight hours of sleep is the bare minimum to function and do a good job so between the both of you, it's a good idea to work out a plan that ensures she's getting that much. Helpers are not robots or super-human. If I was in her shoes, going to bed at 11 pm and then having to drag myself out of bed at 6 am (and also I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON) I would also be having a problem getting up. It probably has nothing to do with her hearing the alarm clock. The girl IS TIRED! I would be too! Plus, taking care of a child all day long as well as doing the physical duties of the house is exhausting (I know because I did this full-time without a helper for a year!). So, as long as the alarm is one of those annoying ones that you can't turn off and she has ample rest time, she should be able to train herself to get up.


  5. #5
    sandy0741 is offline Registered User
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    Actually she is in her room at 11, sometimes even earlier as I usually look after my son after I get home and she is off to her own time at around 10 p.m. But since I leave for work at around 6 30, she needs to get up before that to have her breakfast and do the cleaning before my son wakes up usually at 7, so I don't think it's too harsh on her.


  6. #6
    AndreaY is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by sandy0741 View Post
    Actually she is in her room at 11, sometimes even earlier as I usually look after my son after I get home and she is off to her own time at around 10 p.m. But since I leave for work at around 6 30, she needs to get up before that to have her breakfast and do the cleaning before my son wakes up usually at 7, so I don't think it's too harsh on her.
    I know every household is different, in ours, our helpers have hours off before 10pm (earlier if they finish cleaning kitchen after dinner) till 7am when they wake and have breakfast. They start to clean the living room about 7.30am and then prepare milk for the children (3 and 18mon) who wake up 8am.

    Just so I am getting it correctly, you go and wake her on or before 6.30am before you go to work? and for the 1/2 hour before your son wakes up, she needs to wash her face, have breakfast, do some cleaning and prepare your son's bottle and stuff? I have no idea how much baby stuff/housework/ironing/groceries shopping etc. she needs to do but if she is busy the whole day doing those till 10/11pm, maybe she needs a little more sleep. If she takes nap whilst the baby does too, then I think she should have enough sleep doing that.

  7. #7
    rani's Avatar
    rani is offline Administrator
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    How about creating a work schedule for her, allocating her reasonable time to rest/sleep and see if things improve.

    I had the same problem with my 1st helper. I was nursing and managed all the night feeds etc. But needed her up by 7am so I can hand over baby after his morning feed and I could go back to sleep for another hour. We eat dinner early and her work is done by 8pm, but she'd stay up till the wee hours of the morning chatting on the phone.


  8. #8
    sandy0741 is offline Registered User
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    For my helper, the work she does is just cleaning and looking after my son, who is already 2 and 1/2. My mom is there to do the cooking and buying of groceries. So what she needs to do before sleeping is cleaning in the kitchen. My son already has me there to look after. But she usually works very slowly and even a blouse or shirt take her at least an hour to finish ironing, though she irons well, which I do appreciate her for this, but her slowness tend to delay everything. Even after I told her to get ready to sleep on or before 10, she would go to the kitchen to cook her noodles, which she would spend around 1/2 hr in it. ( She already had her full dinner before) but I dont mind about this, maybe she justs gets hungry very often.
    My son goes to sleep in the afternoon, so I allow her to take a short nap at that time. But what she will do is to talk on the phone with her friends, so I dont think I am being unreasonable with her. Even if I allocate a time for her to reast, she would prefer to do other things, so it's just her habit to sleep late and go to bed late!


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