Recently had extremely traumatic experience with a freelance confinement nanny

I am also a new mum and also recently had extremely traumatic experience with a freelance confinement nanny by the name of Lock Choon Hee, known as “Ah Xi Aunty”. She is from JB. I got her contact from my mother-in-law who got her contact from her friend. I initially hired her for 40 days and in end shorten her duration to 27 days. She also charge $3300 for 28 days and tell me to declare a lower wage in her work permit application. I declined and told her unless she charge me the lower amount otherwise if I declare lower amount, I am making false declaration to Ministry of Manpower which is illegal! Her contact number is +60-135265310.

We treat our nanny well, provide her wifi, nice comfy bed and a room to herself and accede to all her requests like buying additional items in the kitchen to facilitate her cooking etc. and allow her to go out run her personal errands. We also bought a lot of ingredients where we told her she can cook for herself as well. But she usually don’t cook separate dish for herself. I believe that’s why she cook many non-confinement dishes because the confinement food is heaty and she doesn’t want to cook separately for herself and will always eat the same food she prepared for me. However, below are instances of how horrible she behaves!

Dear mummies, please do your due diligence to verify the truth. As what’s written below is purely my personal traumatic experience with a nanny that I’ve employed as a new mummy! I don’t know if she behaves like that for other mummies but what’s written here are exactly what I’ve experienced!

**Lazy and Busy on mobile**

The Confinement Nanny Ah Xi Aunty arrive late on first day of work despite us telling her to reach by 2pm and she agreed! However, when its 3pm and she didn’t come, I call her and she said its raining and she cannot come and eventually reach my place at 5pm instead. We just accept and move on as long as she did arrive at my house! She is very chatty and gave my parents and in laws very good impression of her despite her being late. Next day, she says my pots and pans are not suitable for her to cook. She said my frying pans are heavy. She needed pressure cooker and also electric airpot for hot water. My hubby got her a pressure cooker, a light weight frying pan and electric airpot for hot water dispensing.

We noticed she always uses her mobile everywhere she goes in the house, in kitchen and in toilet and of course in her room with closed door! She asked to connect to my wifi on her first day of work and I did as I think its fine. However I noticed she was extremely busy with her hp and we decided to switch off the wifi at midnight and on it only at 8 plus am when she wakes up! She confronts me the next day regarding my switching off the wifi and said she no more wifi and she cannot do her business from midnight! I said I thought you are supposed to sleep and take care of baby at night time. She replied me saying, “Aunty do many big business in Malaysia, and I sell brown rice and kueh etc. so many customers still contact me at night time etc.” I told my hubby about this and he asked her if she needed us to on wifi for 24 hours. She replied to him, “No need”.

**Poor Bath Techniques**

The confinement Nanny Ah Xi Aunty doesn’t seem to have good experience in bathing baby. I hear my newborn screaming and wailing each time she bathe him. I noticed she bathe him for 15 minutes every shower time and she told me she need to give the newborn “play water”. I spoke to her that I attended a course from hospital that newborn shower is quick, which takes 5 minutes or so and there is no need to give new born “play water”. She retorted me, “Wah shower in 5 minutes, you show me how to shower baby in 5 minutes? I was shocked by her response! I believe after her showering him for close to a month, my baby was frightened as we see he always tremble in fear. To date when we shower him each time, he cries and clench his fist each time. At that time nanny even ask me if I was frightened when I was pregnant because baby always tremble! I reply her I wasn’t frightened during pregnancy. Now recalling this part, nanny seems to always inform me of the baby trembling in the initial phase because probably she contributed to the frightened effect on my baby!

*Unhygienic Meals Preparation and Lousy Attitude**

The confinement Nanny Ah Xi Aunty wakes up at 8 plus am whenever my hubby goes to work and same timing occasionally on weekends when my hubby is at home. Normally she wakes up earlier on weekends when my hubby is around. Nanny goes to sleep at 10plus pm and close her door. She spends less than 30 minutes to prepare ingredients and cook each time. The first 2 weeks of confinement, she said I need to eat healthy food, cannot cook food with sesame oil or rice wine. Also, my hubby bought eu ren san package and nanny kept complaining this is no good because no daily soup pack for 28 days. I told her, my hubby already bought the package, please just cook the soup accordingly. She complains for many days. She ask my mil to buy cooling vegetable which normally confinement time will not eat.

She also ask my aunty to buy her black bean sauce to cook fish. She use my fridge oyster sauce almost finish by the end of my confinement as well as my mushroom powder and all other seasonings she can find in the fridge. Not that she cannot use the seasonings but I was told usually confinement meals are cooked with sesame oil and ginger strips and rice wine but nanny always use alot of seasonings to cook my meals despite saying she cooks healthy meals.

Her double boiled soup has very strong alcohol smell. I ask her if she boil the soup as normally alcohol will evaporate upon cooking and should not have a very strong dom smell and she responded, “Oh, I boil the soup and then pour DOM into it? I believe she doesn’t know how to boil chicken with DOM soup.

I saw her cutting ginger for preparing ginger strips dish. The ginger looks like spoilt and she still tries to cut it for preparing my food. I told her to discard and use others because we bought 3kg of ginger and I can see she doesn’t want to use the good ones. She always put the balance ginger at the wash basin area near the soap despite me telling her not to do it as anyone careless may drip the detergent into the ginger.

She also always put the frozen food into the wash basin without putting on a plate and I told her not to do it in case anyone use the basin and wash hands or detergent, it will seep into the frozen food. She refused to listen either!

**Spoilt Fruit and Expired Food**

The confinement Nanny Ah Xi Aunty also serve me spoilt kiwi one time. She is very lazy and cut the kiwi in half with skin on and close it back. I open it to eat and to my surprise, I saw it is spoilt. And then suddenly I heard her behind me asking, “Hey, its spoilt leh, did you eat?” I replied, “Aunty, why do you serve me a spoilt kiwi?” She replied, “Aunty never wear spectacles.” I asked, “Why do you close the kiwi you cut?” She replied, “Aunty give you a chance to exercise your fingers.” I was indeed speechless again with her response! When my gardenia bread expired, we wanted to throw away, she said can put in fridge and she can fry egg bread for breakfast and is still edible. And she still serves me the bread for breakfast the next day.

**Strange Red Date Tea Preparation**

The confinement Nanny Ah Xi Aunty’s red date tea is always diluted. I thought this is the norm until my family and friends came to visit me, they tried the red date tea and also commented that the red date tea was very diluted. We bought a lot of red dates and longan but aunty always make diluted red date tea for me to drink for the confinement. One time, I noticed the red date tea was sour. I asked her and she drank she said no. Another time, the red date tea is salty. I told my hubby and he tasted and agree is indeed salty. He ask the nanny to drink and to re-cook a new pot. Nanny was funny, she went to the pot to scoop a cup to drink and said is not salty. My hubby tried the tea and said it is salty. And nanny drink took a sip from my cup and say oh ya, my cup of red date tea is salty. The next morning when my hubby goes to work, she repeat this topic and say to me, “I wonder how you make magic to the cup of red date tea yesterday and turn it salty.” I was speechless and I said, “It was salty.”

Another instance I happened to go into kitchen and witness her pouring red date tea from one pot to my rice cooker pot to keep warm and she accidentally drop the table cloth into the whole pot of red date tea. She suddenly got frightened and asked me if I need to monitor what she does in the kitchen! I told her, “Aunty, I need to learn how you made red date tea etc and you drop the dirty table cloth inside the pot. Please remake a new pot!” I believe she never did as she don’t want me to be in the kitchen and even lock my kitchen door thereafter. I believe the table cloth is dirty because I provided relatively new table cloths for use and my table cloth change colour in less than 27 days after she use it. I saw her on multiple occasions she use my table cloth to even wipe the kitchen floor, wipe cutlery and cooking utensils and pots and pans!

**Dirty herbal bath water**

The confinement Nanny Ah Xi Aunty prepares my shower water and always gives me half a pail of boiled herbal water which is insufficient for me to wipe my body and the delivery wound. I told her nicely to give me more water. She says its too heavy for her to pour the water into the pail. I suggested to her, she can cook a big pot of herbal water and scoop it into the pail. She said my big pot is very heavy. So I told her, alternatively you can boil the herbal water twice in small pot. She responded to me, “The pot is very heavy, why don’t you carry it yourself?” I was pissed off and responded to her, “If I carry it myself, why do I employ you for?” After this incident, my herbal water often had “extra ingredients” in it. Its always have some dirty small things floating in it.