Leaving Your Baby with a Sitter for the First Time

If you happen to be a new mom, you would surely have had your life centered on the newborn from the day she came into the world. However, work and social schedules are going to demand that you move out of the home eventually, and that means leaving your child in the care of a babysitter.

This can be traumatic for both the mom and the child. Not surprisingly, the trauma is often much greater for the mom. Given below are a few ideas that can work and make the separation easier for you and your baby.

1. Do not feel bad: Accept the fact that you have a life to live. That does not make you a bad parent. As long as you have made all the necessary arrangements for your baby, there is no need to feel guilty about leaving her with a babysitter.
2. Find a proper sitter: The first thing to do is to find a proper babysitter. References from friends and neighbors are the simplest and most effective way to go about this.
3. Let the sitter and the baby take to each other: During the first meeting, let the sitter and the child get to know each other. Do not interfere but watch carefully how they react and behave. Normally, after about 30 to 60 minutes, they should get along comfortably.
4. Familiarize the sitter with your baby’s needs: Explain your child’s habits and normal routine to the sitter so that she can work to meet what the child expects and needs.
5. Begin in small measure: To begin with, ask the babysitter to stay with the child while you spend time in a different part of the house, cooking, doing the laundry, dressing up or whatever you need to do. Maybe you could do some gardening. Once you and the baby are comfortable with being away from each other for short periods, move on to the next step.
6. Get ready to leave the baby in the sitter’s care: Now you are ready to leave behind the sitter and the baby at home. Before doing this, give the sitter all the emergency contact numbers and provide her with all the information she may need. Writing it all out in bullet form on a wall sheet makes it easy for her to find in a moment what she needs to know.
7. Leave home quietly: When leaving home, do so quickly and quietly. An emotional goodbye is bad for you and even worse for the baby.
8. Increase the duration of separation in small measure: Leave the house for an hour on the first day; gradually increase the duration in the following days until the baby, the sitter and you are all comfortable with the developing situation, and you feel that you can stay out for longer periods and resume your normal life.
9. Be clear about refreshments for the sitter:  Remember that the babysitter is a human being. Make sure that she knows what food and drink she can help herself to and what is off limits.

Feelings of insecurity, anxiety and guilt are normal when you leave your baby in the care of another. Over time, both you and the baby will get used to the changed situation, and it will become a part of normal life. Just remember to take it slow and not rush things.

Before you notice it, she will be old enough to be placed in a childcare facility on a regular basis. That’s another big step, and you can rely upon reputed websites and services that can help you find safe and licensed child care providers in your own area.