HF Q’s – Can my au pair take care of my baby during the night?

Yes, your au pair can take the night shift.  Many new moms love the fact that they can schedule their au pair at night.  You still need to give your au pair a schedule with a specific start time and end time and you cannot ask your au pair to work more than 10 hours per day or 45 hours per week, even if the baby is sleeping for the majority of the shift.  An example of this would be if you would like your au pair to be on duty from 2 am until 6 am so you could get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.  Even if the baby slept that entire time, you could only schedule your au pair for 6 more hours that day and she would need 8 hours before the start of work the next day in order to rest up and relax.  Finally, remember your au pair cannot be left alone with a newborn younger than 3 months old.

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.