MOM'S BEST FRIEND

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I would start by stating that the name, Mom's Best Friend, is a misnomer. A more precise name would be Nanny's Best Friend. Make no mistake -- the family doing the hiring is not the client. Rather, they are the source of income for the organization. The organization is focused on the temporary babysitters and nannies for hire. They -- the caregivers -- are the clients. The organization is less interested in the hiring family's views and perspectives than in cultivating a relationship with the caregivers, from whom it will earn its daily and yearly finder's fees. Understanding this up front will reduce frustration for anyone using Mom's Best Friend services down the line. Some of the babysitters who have been placed with us have been wonderful, caring, and engaged care providers, and others have appeared to be brain dead. The best babysitters called in advance to confirm that they would be coming; arrived early and with games, toys, books, or other materials to use during the day; communicated at critical points throughout the day to let me know how it was going; carefully followed our instructions regarding food, sleep, and cleaning our child; made careful notes about our baby's intake, output, and sleep; and cleaned up/organized the toys and books before leaving, after having filled out a receipt to leave with us. On the other hand, we have had babysitters who failed to adequately feed the baby, despite detailed instructions and a guided tour of the refrigerator full of bottles of breast milk, along with instructions about how to warm it. We had a babysitter put the baby in the crib with a bottle and leave her there screaming for 45 minutes because the baby was not accustomed to being put to bed with a bottle (not a good practice). We have emphasized time and again that we do not want our baby exposed to television and yet have come home to find the television on, with the babysitter juggling baby and remote while trying to turn off the television as we entered the room. There was one woman who arrived after doing an overnight job with multiples. Not only was she clearly exhausted, but she also did not have the physical flexibility to engage with/play with our baby on the floor. Her sleep deprived state made her impatient, and she yelled several times at our baby. However, to the organization's credit, they were willing to assign someone else to us the next day when I called to say that this particular caregiver was not working out. (For anyone who is wondering, I work out of our house and have thus had an ample opportunity to observe many of the caregivers in action. However, I do travel frequently for work so am not always in the house when a caregiver is present.) I have reached out to the temporary placement service at Mom's Best Friend to ask if there is a mechanism by which I might submit information about my experiences with the caregivers and share concerns about those with whom the experience has been challenging. However, I have never received a response to those communications. I do understand from the babysitters we have had that the organization actively solicits their input about the experience with the families.

They are really good. They are very efficient and very nice. I have not used them for the home health but I would trust them for that. They react very quickly if I have a sudden need for help. They are very nice people. Everything is great. If I call and leave a message, they will call back very quickly. I will absolutely continue to use them.

I really likes the quality and professionalism of their nannies. They offered really good quality care for my children. They were very responsible and very responsive and getting back to me. The company also did a nice job keeping me informed of the nanny they were going to send and did a very good check on that nanny to qualify her for the job.