When friends learned about my pregnancy, many asked if I would hire a domestic helper. I gave a lot of thoughts to it and decided I’d still choose infant care for didi.

Pros of childcare centre

1. Teachers are professionally trained

As teachers are professionally trained, I feel more assured to leave my child with them. Plus, there are more than one pair of eyes around so chances of them mistreating the child are lesser (although it still happens).

2. Proper schedule/ curriculum in place

For infants, the teachers would record the timing of feeding, bathing, changing diapers etc. There would also be some activities to engage the infant.

For playgroup and above, there will be curriculum to follow to ensure learning takes place. Some centres have additional lessons such as music, drama etc.

3. Social setting

Exposing my child to other kids gives him opportunities to interact and learn vital social skills. I believe this is why he is able to say hello to neighbours on his own. Sometimes he even walks around coffeeshop table by table to wave at strangers, like some ministers participating in election!

4. No screen time

I admit that I was judgemental. I told husband back then that we will not resort to using iPad or handphones during feeding. Circuit breaker came and we gave him so much screen time to save our sanity. Thanks to youtube, we were able to have zoom meetings at the same time.

It was a double edge sword though. Screen time is a path of no return. It is challenging to reduce screen time once he is exposed to the world of Tayo Bus and Peppa Pig. Just an hour ago, he refused to sleep and kept saying “mummy, please give me phone”. We didn’t teach him the phrase “give me” and neither did we teach him what is a phone. 😂

Most of the time he is well-behaved. The tantrums come when he wants to watch TV or when we switch off TV before he feels it is enough for the day.

At least for the 10 hours he spends in the childcare, we know that he has absolutely no screen time. Wonderful.

Cons of childcare centre

1. Child falls sick easily

Childcare centre is a perfect host for germs. Kids love to put objects in their mouths. Imagine that full of saliva hand touching each other?

My son fell sick on and off for a good 2 months before he was able to adapt to the germs. That 2 months were so torturous for us, especially when he woke up in the middle of the night to vomit. We had to pacify a crying baby while cleaning up the cot and baby.

2. It is not 24/7

Infant care is available from 7am – 7pm on weekdays only while childcare centre may have half day session on Sat.

It can be exhausting to take care of the child after work, especially for families with no additional help.

Pros of domestic helper

1. Helper can help with household chores

Self explanatory. Helper is also around almost 24/7 and can help with baby at night.

Cons of domestic helper

1. Loss of personal space

I cherish personal space and am not comfortable having another person in the house.

2. Trust issues

Personally, I have trust issues and will be worried if I leave baby alone with helper. Many friends told me to instaall CCTV but I don’t like my house to be filled with CCTV. It just doesn’t feel like a home anymore. Shouldn’t a home be a safe sanctuary instead of a place with CCTV?

3. Possibility of child being less independent

It is more difficult to train a child to do housework when there is a helper around. I am worried that my children would be over reliant.

Weighing the pros and cons, I’ve decided that there are more pros to opting for infant care centre. Did not compare in terms of finances as domestic helper and infant care fees are about the same. As the child progresses to older groups, the fees drop significantly. Thus it is hard to compare the fees across different period of time.