Mother Hires a Nanny and Installs Hidden Cameras before Leaving, Later Checks Footage and Rushes Home

When a woman hired a new nanny for her 6-month-old son, she had a weird feeling. She brushed it off, thinking it was "new-mom anxiety," but later realized she put her son in danger by hiring the woman.

The woman already had a nanny, but she refused to stay with her at night because of other commitments. Feeling helpless, the woman looked for another nanny.

However, things changed when she left her son alone with the new nanny. She was forced to rush home after discovering how the nanny treated her baby.

Meggie7801 confessed she had "new mom anxiety," so she did a lot of background checks before hiring a new nanny for her 6-month-old son. She explained:

"I scoured reviews, paid extra for the background check etc. Picked someone with several great reviews."

She admitted she got a "weird feeling" that day, so she went out with her husband and got nanny cams. She secretly installed them in the house. The couple had paid the nanny to reach their house an hour and a half before their intended time to leave. They wanted to make sure the nanny got along well with their baby.

When all was settled and they had given the nanny instructions, the couple left the house for an event they had to attend. When OP (Original Poster) checked the hidden camera footage a few minutes later, she expected her son would be asleep, but the footage showed something else. Her baby was wailing while the nanny was nowhere to be found. She recalled:

"I can rewind the footage on my phone and found basically 5 min after we left she laid him on the play pad and walked out."

The woman assumed the nanny must have been in the washroom, so she waited a few minutes. She saw that her child was calm when the nanny left him on the bed, but he started crying a few minutes later.

Her baby kept on crying for the next thirty minutes. Thinking the nanny may have taken longer than expected in the washroom, OP gave her the benefit of the doubt and waited some more. Then she described what she saw in the footage a few moments later:

"[W]e see her go in the room get something from her purse and just walk back out. He is still crying."

Then OP saw the nanny pick up the child and bounced him while watching TV, but he didn't stop crying. She sat on a chair and put the baby on the floor, but the boy still cried.

After five minutes of the baby crying, the nanny tried to calm him, but at this point, OP was furious. She decided not to go to the event anymore because she couldn't trust the nanny with her baby. However, she also questioned herself if she was just being too suspicious. She explained:

"She pulls him out and is bouncing him pretty roughly, not my style and I'm not very comfortable with it but not abuse."

OP noticed that the nanny was getting frustrated. She tried to make her son sit on the bed, knowing he couldn't balance himself, and he fell on the bed with his face in the blanket.

The nanny stood there and then patted his back after a few minutes. When OP and her husband saw this, they immediately rushed back home. On the drive home, OP saw the nanny give her son a bottle.

Before she left, she told the nanny he might not want the bottle, so there was no need to force him, but it seemed like she was forcing him to drink the milk. The helpless mother saw her child cough as the nanny force-fed him.

After monitoring the nanny through the secret camera, OP finally reached home and told the nanny to leave. She didn't confront her because she was shaking with anger.

Comments and Reactions to the Mother's Hidden Cameras

The woman wrote a Reddit post, asking other Redditors if she overreacted. One Redditor replied:

"I wouldn't blame you much if you physically assaulter her. Would be weird if you weren't upset [sic]."

Meanwhile, another Redditor who didn't have a child assured OP she was not at fault. However, the Redditor was opposed to installing cameras without letting the nanny know, saying she would be pissed if she were the nanny because OP was invading her privacy with the camera.

On the other hand, sfak empathized with OP, saying, "Oh my GOD. If that were me I would have been LIVID," and the commenter advised OP to report the nanny to the authorities and forward the footage to the agency.

Others like autumnx advised OP to hire a new babysitter. She asked OP not to worry if the babysitter is not the "top sitter," as long as the OP is assured of her child's security and hires someone she thinks is the best.

After reading the comments, OP admitted she should correct her post. She shared that the nanny didn't leave her child crying straight for 40 minutes. However, it felt like she left him for too long.

Most Redditors agreed OP was not overreacting. They asked her to hire someone who would prioritize her child's safety over everything else. Another comment emphasized that nannies did not have to love the children they babysat, but the least they needed to do was care for their well-being.

While many did not like that the concerned mother installed hidden cameras, they assured her that she did not overreact and that it was her duty as a mother to ensure her child was in the right hands.

The woman also reasoned that she did not tell the nanny about the hidden cameras because she wanted to see how the nanny would treat her child when she was not home.

Questions to Ponder:

Do you think OP was overreacting by rushing home?

OP admitted she had "new-mom anxiety," so her worries about the new nanny may also be stemming from this. However, she believed in her gut feeling that something wasn't right, so she decided to rush home, worried for her baby's safety and well-being. Do you think OP was right to run home and get rid of the nanny, or should she have given the nanny a chance to adjust to her baby, considering it was the first day?

Do you think she should have confronted the nanny?

OP confessed she didn't confront the nanny because she was already angry. She only asked her to leave without explaining what went wrong. Some people might agree that OP should have made the nanny realize her mistake so she would be careful in the future. What do you think?

If you enjoyed reading this story, you might like this one about a little boy who woke up in the middle of the night and saw a shadow in his room. However, no one believed him when he told them about it.

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