It Takes a Nanny to Raise a Child

You have probably heard the term "it takes a village to raise a child," but this should be rephrased to match motherhood in the modern world. It should be "it takes a nanny to raise a child," since most new mothers do not have access to a village worth of help. In many cases, new mothers do not even have friends or relatives that can help them recover from childbirth and learn how to properly care for their new babies.

The Distant past

There was a time when new mothers had built-in support when bringing home their new babies. They had neighbors bringing hot meals and pies to the door and older members of the community available to give the baby baths and make sure there were no problems with breastfeeding. If a new mother was weak and struggling to recover, she would have many women surrounding her and nursing her back to health.

These were the days when the village, or local community, did in fact raise the children right from birth. A naughty child could be punished by a neighbor then sent home to be punished again by their parent. Mothers didn't have to worry about their children when they were out to play because they knew many other women were looking after them.

You may remember these times from your own childhood. It's a shame that times have changed, but there are always some negatives that come with progress, right?

Modern Motherhood

Today, many women are too busy chasing careers and putting food on the table for their own families to watch out for anyone else's family. Women around the world now have more responsibility outside the home, which means they have less energy and time to invest inside the home. This means the surrounding village or community has disappeared. Most new mothers no longer have that constant support around the clock to make sure they recover from childbirth and care for their new babies efficiently.

Some women may still have the support of their mothers and other women in their families, but these people often cannot drop their own lives to give the amount of care needed by a new mother. This leaves modern mothers with two options: do everything on their own or hire a confinement nanny.

It is incredibly hard to take care of a newborn and recover from delivery alone. This is especially true for first-time mothers who don't know how to properly care for a newborn. It is also true for mothers recovering from a cesarean section, since they will not be able to lift their baby and move them around as much as other mothers.

Therefore, most mothers are now hiring confinement nannies to come into their homes and give a helping hand around the clock. A confinement nanny will now take care of everything that the village or community might have done for a new mother in the past. This includes meal preparation and help with older children as well as bathing, changing and feeding the new baby. The nanny looks after the health of the new mother and makes sure she gets adequate rest and food to recover from childbirth. She also looks after the baby to make sure they are properly cared for and growing at the proper rate.

It still takes a village to raise a child, but today the village has been replaced by the confinement nanny.