Review of PEM Confinement Nanny Agency

About PEM Confinement Nanny Agency

PEM Confinement Nanny Agency was established in 1987 and has been in the industry for 30 years. They provide Mummies with the upmost confinement care in Singapore. PEM Confinement Nanny Agency is the largest confinement nanny agency in Singapore with over 400 nannies and is the first confinement nanny agency to be licensed by Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

Why I Chose PEM For Both My Confinements?

The first time I hired a nanny from PEM was 2 years ago when I had my first born in 2015. I was really lost at that point but Hubby helped to find out about popular nanny agencies in Singapore and was recommended PEM by several friends. It was only after booking the nanny that we knew how popular PEM was. Popular in the sense whenever Mummies talked about confinement nanny agencies, most would first bring up the name PEM. So at that point I thought it was a safe choice since they're really well known & reputable. Hubs & I always felt safer to have a nanny from a trusted agency rather than a freelance nanny even if she is recommended. The rationale behind it is that we feel even for a nanny that is really well-received and highly recommended, if there was anything that happened in her personal life that she had to attend to and miss the job, she would have to. Even if she could get a replacement, that would defeat the purpose of booking her since you set out to have her as your choice nanny isn't it? Moreover usually the salary of freelance nannies are higher. So without a thought PEM was still our first choice when we got pregnant the second time round.

Why Confinement Nanny?

It really depends on your household arrangements, whether you have enough help with the baby, cooking of confinement food, and house chores. For me even though I have a helper, I wanted someone who's trained in taking care of newborns look after my baby. At the same time wanting someone who is equipped with proper knowledge of confinement rules to assist me with recovery during this period. Anyway I see my helper and my nanny as two separate roles. My helper takes care of my toddler, does house chores and brings my tott to my MIL's place during the day. My nanny on the other hand takes care of my newborn and myself, cooks for the family, and prepares anything else that is required for my confinement during this month.

Here's a nice picture with my nanny and both my girls.

Hehe, baby enjoying her milk bath here.

Main Duties Of The Confinement Nanny

• Brewing of TCM herbal tonics & red date tea
• Washing of clothes for Mummy & newborn
• Preparation of confinement herbal bath water for Mummy
• Nannies to assist Mummy with breastfeeding if needed
• 24 hours care for baby
• Cooking of confinement food for Mummy
• Simple cleaning of the house (sweeping & mopping)
• Sharing of useful tips on a smooth confinement

For more details on the full job scope of confinement nannies, please click here.

The Daily Routine Of my Confinement Nanny

1. Every morning she'll make me breakfast. I always have my breakfast at a standard timing 'cuz of my body clock. Yes, even during confinement and all the lack of sleep from breastfeeding baby. #sleepwoes
2. Then she proceeds to boil the red date tea and herbal bath water for me and sets it aside to cool before I take a shower after lunch.
3. She'd have her meal, sun my baby ('cuz baby had jaundice) then bathe baby.
4. Before noon came, my nanny would prepare lunch for the family. The nannies are supposed to prepare meals for Mummies as well but as I had my own confinement food catered, I didn't need her to cook for me. You might be wondering why would I order confinement food catering since I have a confinement nanny already. Well my helper brings my elder girl to my MIL's place during weekdays and I'm home alone with the nanny. Would prefer for the nanny to have full focus on my girl that's why.
5. After lunch she normally would wash up the place, do some light sweeping and mopping, then hand wash baby & my clothes. She normally does this twice a day before taking her bath. 
6. When everything has been settled she'd take naps in between the afternoon while looking after baby so I could get some rest. But b'cuz baby is breastfed, most times baby ends up sleeping in my room especially on days where she cluster feeds. 
7. About 5pm or so my nanny would sun my girl again, let her cool and rest, then wipe her down before preparing dinner for the family. 
8. The rest of the time at night is pretty free & easy. She'd help with the baby like changing her diapers, coaxing her to sleep and take baby to me when she needs to feed.
9. Again b'cuz baby is breastfed, her sleeping arrangements changed quite a bit on a week to week basis. So when baby sleeps with nanny, my nanny brings baby to me when she needs to feed then I'll take baby back to her room when I'm done. Some days baby just sleeps in my room 'cuz she feeds every hourly so might as well I just keep her in my room. But I take her to my nanny when she needs a diaper change. So this should be discussed with your partner and planned before nanny comes just to be prepared.

Other Things My Nanny Helped Me With

• On days I had my postnatal massage sessions, I would pump so nanny could feed & take care of baby while I enjoy my massages.
• I did a newborn shoot for my baby at home around 2nd week post-delivery. That was great help b'cuz it takes a couple of hours to get the shoot done. Nanny was around to assist with pacifying & calming baby. 
• Even though I had catered confinement meals, my nanny would still make me small portions of nice confinement dishes every now and then. She'd also make anything that I requested, e.g. red bean soup 'cuz I heard my Mummy friends saying it helps with water retention. Not that I had it, but I just thought a little dessert would be nice.
• My nanny plays and interacts with my toddler, which is something quite nice 'cuz I see my toddler having fun with her.
• Once or twice a week my nanny would do some grocery shopping for the home.
• And one of the important things, washing and sterilizing of my pump parts.

Here are some of the yummy dishes my nanny made during her stay with us. Above on the left is Oatmeal cooked in Mom's Milk and it's a great milk booster, it's one of my favorite breakfast meals. I added some Flaxseed Meal for extra fiber and Omega-3 fatty acids, plus topped up with an Apple to have healthy bowel movements. On some days my nanny would make me Pork Mee Sua cooked in Red Rice Wine. Its not something I'll usually eat but it's really very yummy..! Plus the Red Wine I was really delicious. You can PM me for details to order the Red Wine if keen.

Clockwise from top left: Kampong Chicken with Pork Stomach Soup, Stir Fried Pork Belly with Ginger, ABC Soup and Red Wine Chicken (Fav!!). Before tasting the Red Wine Chicken made by my nanny, I never thought I liked this dish. Now That I've tried, it's officially one of my favorite confinement dishes. The ABC Soup isn't a confinement dish 'cuz it was cooked for the family, but I took a bowl just out of greed. : P

Clockwise from top left: Vinegar Pork Trotters (All time fav!! and again prob the best I've had!), Stir Fried Pork Stomach with Oyster Mushrooms in Red Wine Sauce, Sesame Oil Chicken with Potatoes, and Stir Fried Chicken with Onion Shoots and Black Fungus.

Clockwise from top left: Again Red Wine Chicken on the last day of my confinement before the nanny left. She cooked this big portion of Red Wine Chicken for me and my friends who came over. We've got Red Bean Soup and also Stir Fried Vegetables. Overall I really liked my nanny's cooking. It was tasty with just the right amount of flavors.

A very important thing my nanny helped with, the tracking of my girl's pee pee & poo poo as well as her feeding timing. This was really helpful 'cuz I myself forgot that I had to keep track. So in the end I let my nanny do the recording for the entire month and I only started after confinement. So much easier for me!

In the initial week of my confinement my nanny cup fed baby at night. On the last week of confinement, I asked my nanny to help try out the bottle on baby just to see if she'd take it 'cuz eventually we'll have to start her on bottle feed when my MIL takes care of her. It took my baby about 1 whole minute of crying and fussing before taking the bottle in peace but now she's quite a pro. It's good to get nanny to help with anything you lack in confident of before she leaves just to get you some idea or started with something. Like bathing of baby, feeding, burping, etc. Just try to get help if needed especially if you'd be on your own after confinement.

Other Services From PEM For Your Confinement Needs

• Confinement Herbal Package - Herbal Red Date Tea, Herbal Bath, Herbal Soup. These all comes in a 28-day set. They are packed individually, one for everyday's use. And the Herbal Soup packs are labelled in sequence of days for the aid in a particular recovery everyday. You can see an example of the Herbal Soup pack in my previous blog, click here.
• Prenatal Massage - helps relieve muscle aches and joint pain, reduces swelling, as well as improving labor outcome.
• Postnatal Massage - this is definitely a must-must for every Mummy who just given birth! I swear by it. The massage helps to expel wind from the body, remove engorgement, push womb back into place, tighten abdominal area, and helps Mummies relax and feel good.

The Booking Process

1. Upon inquiring and setting appointment with a customer service officer from PEM, an email was received shortly regarding our tele-convo as well as detailed brochures about their services.
2. A representative from PEM dropped by our place on the date of appointment to explain the entire service in details as well as the things that we need to know before hiring the nanny.
3. Once the booking was confirmed, a deposit was paid to the rep on the spot. The remaining amount was to be paid to the nanny on the last day of her service.
4. My hubby called PEM the day of delivery to notify them of the day of discharge, then nanny came on the afternoon of my discharge.

It's been 2 days since my nanny has left. Overall I'm very pleased with her services and stay at our home. Kinda miss having a nanny as a companion to help take care of baby and cook me good food already. But now it's back to reality, oh wells. I do have some friends who hire their nannies for 2 months, super shiok can! Anyways I'd definitely recommend PEM Confinement Nanny Agency to every Mom or Moms-to-be if this is something you're thinking of having during your confinement. So far I've used them twice and the experience both times were good.

So that's all for today and I hope you liked my review for the day. Do feel free to leave comments in the comment box below if you have any question/s regarding the topic and I'll try my best to answer them if it's not already stated in my blog above. And that's all for today, bye~! ; )

If you'd like to find out more about PEM Confinement Nanny Agency and their packages, visit them at their:

Official website @ https://pemconfinement.com/
Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/PEMConfinementNanny/

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Thank you for reading my blog, until next time.. : )