It's actually our second time hiring confinement nanny from PEM agency. Unfortunately both times started off with horrible experiences.
For our second born, PEM sent nanny 李秀琴 which marks the start of our nightmare. This nanny is either pure stubborn or unable to comprehend instructions.
1) We requested not to include salt or soy sauce for the first week. But the dishes are always salty.
2) Clothes are not washed and collected promptly but are always left hanging in the kitchen, end up all the clothes (including those of my 2yrs old first born) always smell like sesame oil. To avoid clothes smelling like confinement meals, my Mother in law need to rush to keep the clothes as soon as she hears this nanny starts cooking.
3) Sweeping and mopping of floor were only carried out upon request, and that's only once after ten days. Totally no initiative at all.
4) Our baby had slight jaundice, and we requested her to help in suntanning the baby. But she actually told my Mother in law she is "pai seh" to go downstairs to suntan the baby! The jaundice reading becomes higher during every subsequent visit to the PD, we were so worried for the baby.
5) Fan had been provided in the baby room but we allowed her to turn on the air con at night. However, we noticed our baby had blocked nose after a week and requested her not to on the air con at night. As a result, she simply choose to keep the room stuffy without turning on the fan! When we questioned her, she simply replied "where got people sleep without air con".
6) As a breastfeeding mum, pumping need to be done every 3 hourly. Yet at almost midnight one day, after I was done pumping milk, she passed the baby to me and told me to take care of the baby for a few hours while she go sleep! This was the last straw for my Husband and we spoke to PEM boss to invite her out immediately!
In fact, my Husband had wanted to change this nanny earlier but I was too kind hearted until this incident.
A replacement was sent in the next day, the nanny is auntie 陈菊润. The service is a direct contrast to the first nanny! We really appreciate her selfless effort in picking up the mess left over by the first nanny!
1) our baby was well taken care of and fed well every day. Even at night, she set alarm to wake up to warm the milk so that baby could be fed on time. As a result, we seldom hear baby crying in the middle of the night as compared to the time he was taken care by the previous nanny.
2) clothes were washed and kept before any cooking was carried out. Not only our clothes no longer smell like confinement meal, auntie 菊润 even took the effort of folding the clothes before passing them to us.
3) A lot of initiative can be seen in auntie 菊润, she sends the baby out for suntanning Everyday without any reminders from us. As a result, the jaundice reading finally came down, thanks to auntie 菊润!
4) We also appreciates auntie 菊润 effort in trying her best to adjust the taste of the food according to our preference.
Below is a photo of auntie 菊润, taken with our baby when he is one month old. Thank you auntie 菊润!