Need advice re: a babysitter... TIA!

[blondflava]

Hello all wonderful Ladies, I hope to hear some helpful insight. I'm considering to find a babysitter for my DD, who just turned 1 last month. She's my first baby and I never did it before, I am SAHM and would love someone to watch Tatyana 1-2 weekends a month (few hours at night) so my DH and I can get out without the baby. The problem is, she was a preemie, we didn't get out much in the first year (meaning public places) and she's very anxious toward strangers. She'll wave at them, smile and flirt but whenever they try to get too close, she freaks out. It doesn't help that when she's handled by strangers, it's mostly during doctor's visits, and they happened pretty often during her first year. On top of that, she has feeding issues (there would be no feeding involved during the babysitter time), mostly I'd like someone to watch her play in her room and engage in that for 2-3 hours. She's a good baby and likes to play, likes people, just the rough start we had left some 'scars' that won't disappear quickly. How do I go around hiring a sitter, mostly how do I get to the point of leaving my DD with a sitter? (I'll be a nervous wreck LOL but DH and I NEED some alone time, for our sake...) TIA!!

[TwoBees]

Haven't BTDT, but I did want to say hi from another preemie mom.
My suggestion would be to have the sitter over for an hour when you are home, and have both you and the sitter play with your DD. Then try another time when the sitter is the primary caretaker but you are still home. That way your DD can gradually get used to the sitter.

[TwinFoxes]

Haven't BTDT, but I did want to say hi from another preemie mom.
My suggestion would be to have the sitter over for an hour when you are home, and have both you and the sitter play with your DD. Then try another time when the sitter is the primary caretaker but you are still home. That way your DD can gradually get used to the sitter.

Another preemie mom here.:wavey: I agree with having the sitter "sit" while you're at home. That's what we did. Plus, it's sooo nice to be able to do stuff around the house uninterrupted. Good for you for doing this early. I waited too long, we just got our sitters about a month and 1/2 ago.

Have you thought about signing up for a music class or something? One of my DDs was very shy around people, for much the same reason as yours (we didn't go out much either.) We signed up for some music classes, and swim classes, and now they're not as shy around people. Plus with the swim class we got the added bonus of them no longer being terrified of the bath, in fact they ASK to be bathed, they think it's the best time. :) Good luck!

[lil_acorn]

Not that you want to mooch off friends, but would any of your freinds be willing to babysit her if she is more familiar with them? I was always hesistant to leave my first baby with anyone and I don't think we went out for years!