Chennai: Upskilled nannies ready for urban babies

CHENNAI: When her daughter was born 12 years ago, K Dhayanidhi spent all her time taking care of her. And now, she hopes to use the expertise she has to be a professional carer for new mothers and babies.
“I love children and know how to take care of babies. And, after doing a course, I am confident of being a nanny,” says Dhayanidhi, who is one of 15 women who have been trained by Bengaluru-based Urban Nanny and Chennai-based Sethu Foundation.
“We work with about 1,100 underprivileged women and upgrade their skills so that they can be financially independent,” says Sethu Lakshmi, managing director, Sethu Foundation, adding that they have trained women in telemarketing, data entry and to manufacture areca nut plates. “Due to the pandemic many couples couldn’t get their parents to come and live with them, so there has been a huge demand for trained people who can take care of new mothers and infants.”
So the Foundation teamed up with Urban Nanny, co-founded by Ganga Raj, Suma Ajith and Anjali Raj. “We are trying to create a skilled and trained workforce of women who have a limited educational background or come from societies where they are not able to earn a livelihood,” says Ganga. “We teach them mother and baby care – how to take care of C-section sutures or perineum care, how to do postnatal therapeutic massage, how to swaddle and burp baby, as well as give the baby a massage and bath. We also teach them hygiene and infection control and how to identify developmental milestones.”
The training is for 14 days and massage therapy is another 14-day course. “We have come up with the curriculum as Suma is an audiologist, and speech pathologist who specialises child developmental milestones; Anjali is a lactation consultant, and childbirth educator and I am a pre and postnatal exercise specialist as well as wellness coach and doula,” says Ganga
While they have held training programmes in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Bengaluru, this is the first batch of women they have trained in Chennai.
“They are aged 20 to 44, and are willing to do 12 hour shifts. We are tying up with hospitals so that gynaecologists can refer them to prospective clients,” says Sethu Lakshmi, adding that people often opt for three to six month packages, depending on the kind of support system they have.
“We also plan to conduct training programmes in elderly care, as well as housekeeping as there is a demand for it,” says Janaki Kannan, director, Sethu Foundation.
Dhayanidhi is hoping she finds a placement soon. “I would prefer a day shift so that I can earn a living and also take care of my family,” she says.