Hiring a babysitter??

[DualvansMommy]

What resources did you use to find your current babysitter for the kid(s)?

I seem to have the hardest time in the world to find a reliable babysitter?!

I need to hire a sitter for occasional use (1x a week) maybe to 2x weekly during daytime to watch my newborn baby. I've already asked DS1 daycare teachers but they all work there daytime , so that doesn't work for me.

I turned to care.com and not having any luck at all. I've correspondence with 4 potential sitters thus far, but whenever I try to nail down a day/time they fall off the face of earth?!

It's getting old :(

Any ideas ?? And I would really like to get this settled by time spring rolls around because I'll be taking DS1 to his swimming classes (I still have to get into pool with him so bringing DS2 with me is no good)

[mikala]

Other ideas that have worked for me or friends:
See if local colleges have a job board
Let people in your social groups know you're hunting for a sitter. Church, book club, neighborhood group, other preschool moms. In addition to the usual college students you may be able to find someone willing to watch another child with their own or an empty nester waiting impatiently for grandchildren.

[mskitty]

Our best occasional babysitter is our neighbor whose own grandkids are "too big" to cuddle. She loves playing with our young ones and then sending them home.

Some of the retired ladies at our church love to hold babies and would do this type of thing. A mom of young twins always took one with her to doctors appointments with her so she could actually focus on what the doctor said. They may not be able to keep up with a running preschooler but would love to sit and cuddle with a young baby.

[niccig]

YMCA childcare. I worked out, DS was in their babysitting for the hour. I got to know the girls that worked there and I needed a sitter one night so I asked. They all had infant/child CPR, background checked and some had early childhood classes. The girl that said yes still babysits for us occasionally 8.5 years later (she brings her toddler with her) and now her younger sister is our regular sitter. I've also used people the original sitter recommended when she couldn't do it. So if you find a good sitter, ask them if they know anyone else that's good.

I have found that I need to give a 2 hour commitment to make it worth it to drive to my house. YMMV on this.

[ahisma]

Definitely not a popular choice, but we've used Craigslist with great success. I think the key was that we were looking for predictable hours for a prolonged period. I was in grad school - some semesters it was 5 hours / week, some semesters it was 20 hours/week. We interviewed, checked references and did background checks. Through 4 years we hired 6 people (semester changes often prompted a new search). 5 of them were great, one we did let go. She wasn't horrible, just not a great fit. We're still close with 3 of them years later.

[egoldber]

I think that word of mouth is the best way.

I think that care.com can be hit or miss. I posted a job a couple years ago and got no good responses. I posted again a couple weeks ago and got a dozen responses from good candidates. So I think it just depends.

[westwoodmom04]

Care.com usually works but can take patience. I would try rewriting the ad and reposting. At least by us, there is no need to post separately at the local colleges, all the kids are on care.com, you can even narrow a search so that it just gives you college students. Prepare to work through a lot of flakes to find a good sitter, I think that's true no matter where or how you post. If you really get desperate, contact a local nanny agency. They typically also offer on-call babysitting.

[echoesofspring]

I used care.com, but I did have to interview a couple people to find a match that worked for us. It's a drag they are flaking before the interview!! That babysitter (who we adored) moved cross country in December, and it's been tough finding substitutes for her. I've collected a short of list of names to try out and cull by asking all my mommy friends and asking on FB. Right now we're training a friend of hers from church, but I want to try out at least one more. I think if I was looking for more names I might try to expand my network on FB a bit (ask friends of friends, search for local groups in the area, etc.)

[minnie-zb]

Hmmm...That is tough. How long a time period do you need a sitter? I think if you are working through care.com you need to make it attractive to the person looking. I would put in they will be paid for 4 hours even if it is less time.

Is there anyway you could swap with another mom? Let her watch your baby that day and then you take her baby another day?