Overall, we would strongly recommend Jiang Jiang for any family during the stressful post-partum period. She helped relieve a lot of anxieties and really took care of both baby and mom.
My husband and I were looking for a daytime post-partum nanny (8 hrs a day from Monday through Friday) who can care for baby but also cook Chinese post-partum meals. A caveat is that I am Chinese American with moderate Mandarin-speaking skills and husband does not speak Mandarin. We interviewed several Yue shao, majority only spoke Mandarin. We were also particularly interested in the Yue shao’s responses to potential health emergencies and how to care for babies based on American Academy of Pediatric standards. Jiang Jiang was able to answer all our questions and we liked her experience of being a nurse in a confinement center in the past.
We were lucky to have Jiang Jiang nanny for us for around 1 month with our newborn baby. This was our first baby so we had many questions and needed to learn everything. Jiang Jiang taught us everything from changing diapers, mixing formula, helping with baby latching, bathing a newborn, feeding via bottle, etc.
Jiang Jiang was very gentle with the baby and with me. She gave her a bath twice a week after the umbilical cord fell off. She put aquaphor on baby twice a day to ensure baby’s body was well moisturized. She would rock the baby to sleep when she was fussy, and entertain her with black and white books and okay her music during playtime. She would listen to parents wishes but also add in her own expertise and experience to ensure the best for baby. Her intonation is always very kind and gentle, which is especially needed for moms during the stressful and high hormonal post-partum month.
Aside from caring for baby, she also cooked 3 meals a day for my husband and me, and if we had 1-2 visitors. Her cooking also varied each meal and were delicious. She cleaned the kitchen, mopped the floor of our room and baby’s room, did the baby’s laundry and offered to do ours too (but I turned her down for our laundry). I always had a stock of warm drinks: teas, soy milk based smoothies, soups to help with breast milk production. Since we aren’t as familiar with grocery shopping she needed, she helped choose ingredients via Weee and we would order them for her. In her day, I never saw her not working. She was always doing something with baby, cooking, or cleaning.
At baby’s 1 month, she made baby a mango mousse cake and decorations. We didn’t even think to do anything so this was much appreciated.
Any family who has Jiang Jiang join them for a period of time will be very lucky! She will be missed!