Hiring a Domestic Helper for Infant Care in Singapore: A Guide for Parents

What a helper can and cannot do for a newborn

The limit is not really skill. It is authority. A helper can run almost everything around your baby, but the decisions stay with you, and the good ones know exactly where that line sits.

She can feed, bathe, change and settle your baby, sterilise bottles, prepare food, handle the laundry and keep the household running around a newborn routine. Many have done it for years, some for babies only weeks old.

She cannot make medical judgements, replace postnatal clinical care, or legally work at another address such as your mother-in-law's home. There is also no mandatory infant care certification in Singapore. MOM's eligibility rules for a helper cover age, source country and a minimum of eight years of formal education. No caregiving qualification is required, so any claim of being "trained in infant care" is voluntary training, not a licence.

The levy is $60, not $300, and parents do not apply

This is the number most parents get wrong, and it is worth real money. The levy concession applies where there is a child who is a Singapore citizen below 16 years old in the household.

The daily rate only applies to a helper who did not complete a full calendar month. Four things nobody tells you:

1. A PR child does not qualify. Under this category MOM requires Singapore citizenship.
2. Parents do not apply, but grandparents must. If you are the parent the concession runs from your child's date of birth automatically. A non-parent employer, typically a grandparent, has to register the child as a household member, and the concession runs from the registration date rather than from birth. Register late and those months are gone for good.
3. Two children is not two concessions. The concession is one helper per eligible person, capped at two helpers per household.
4. Your first bill may still show $300. It corrects within two bills and is backdated. Do not panic and do not pay an agent to "fix" it.

The cliff when your youngest turns 16

When your youngest eligible child turns 16 the concession stops and the levy steps from $60 to $300. That is $240 more a month, up to about $2,880 a year against the standard first helper rate. Almost nobody plans for it. If your youngest is 14 or 15, start budgeting now. If there is also an elderly parent in the household, a different concession category may apply, which we cover on our eldercare page.

What you actually pay

These are the third party costs, all payable by the employer and none of which may be passed to your helper.

Two insurance policies are required and they are separate: medical insurance with an annual claim limit of at least $60,000 for inpatient care and day surgery, and personal accident insurance with a sum assured of at least $60,000. On claims above $15,000 the insurer pays 75% and the employer pays the remaining 25%. That split is between the insurer and you. You cannot ask your helper to co-pay any part of her medical expenses, including amounts above what the insurance covers.

The levy is due by the 17th of the following month. A late payment brings a penalty. Miss two consecutive months and her Work Permit is revoked the following month, which is a different and far worse outcome.

Our own placement fee is not on this page on purpose. It depends on the placement, and quoting a number that turns out to be wrong for your situation is exactly the behaviour this guide is written against. Ask us on WhatsApp and we will talk it through against your actual circumstances.

Night feeds, the conversation nobody has

Agree this before she signs, not in week two. A helper doing an 11pm feed and a 3am feed and then a full day of cooking and cleaning is not a scheduling problem. It is a safety problem. Tired hands are the mechanism behind scalds, falls, missed feeds and unsafe sleep.

If she does nights, something comes off the day. The heavy cleaning, the cooking, or both, and a real nap window has to exist in the afternoon. Write the actual arrangement down before she arrives: which nights, how many wakings, and what comes off her daytime list in exchange.

She is also entitled to one rest day a week, mutually agreed. If she agrees to work a rest day you must pay at least one day's salary. Since January 2023 at least one rest day a month cannot be compensated away at all. And the honest limit: if you need reliable structured overnight care for the first month, that is a confinement nanny's job, not hers.

When a helper is the wrong answer

The first question we ask a mother with a six week old is not which helper she wants. It is who will actually be in the flat for the first two months. If the answer is nobody, then no helper we place is the right one, because trust with a baby is built by watching, not by reading a biodata. We have told families to wait three months and come back. The placements that are still running four years later are usually those ones.

Do not hire a helper for infant care if:

• You need someone for four weeks, not two years. That is a confinement nanny.
• Nobody will be home to supervise for the first eight weeks and there is no grandparent or nanny to cover. Wait, or arrange cover first.
• Your baby has a condition needing clinical monitoring. That needs a trained nurse.
• Your home has no private sleeping space for her. This is a requirement, not a preference.
• You want a fixed eight hour arrangement. A live-in helper is a household member, not a shift worker.

How to tell whether she has really cared for a newborn

"We screen carefully" means nothing without a method. Here is ours, and you should use it in your own interview. Generic childcare experience is not newborn experience.

1. How old was the youngest baby you cared for, in weeks, and for how many months?
2. Did you do the night feeds alone, or was the mother or a nanny awake with you?
3. Walk me through sterilising a bottle, start to finish.
4. The baby has cried for twenty minutes and feeding has not helped. What do you do next?
5. He rolls off the changing mat while you reach for a nappy. What do you do in the first minute, and who do you call?
6. Which former employer can confirm the baby care specifically?

Listen to the texture of the answer, not the fluency. Rehearsed answers are smooth, general and confident. Real answers are specific, hesitate in the right places, and contain a detail nobody would invent. If a reply comes back word perfect, ask a second scenario question immediately.

On language, the test is not how well she speaks English. It is whether she can understand an instruction about a fever and describe to you on the phone what actually happened.

The first eight weeks are supervision, not handover

Week one she shadows you. Weeks two to four she runs the routine with you in the flat. Weeks four to eight you step back in stages, beginning with short absences. Most placements that fail quietly start failing here, when a parent returns to work on day three and never builds the trust that makes correction possible.

Expect her to get things wrong in the first fortnight. Different swaddling, different bottle temperature, a routine that drifts. Those are normal and correctable. The short list that needs an immediate conversation is anything about sleep safety, anything left unreported, and anything she was asked twice about.

Settle the three way conflict early. Parents, grandparents and helper disagreeing about feeding and sleep is the most common source of friction we see in the first month. Decide who decides, and tell her, before she arrives.

From first enquiry to her first day

1. Enquiry, shortlist and interview.
2. Employers' Orientation Programme if this is your first helper, at least 2 working days before you apply.
3. Work Permit application. About 1 week through the eService, about 3 weeks if you cannot use Singpass and submit the form instead.
4. In-principle approval, then her arrival.
5. Settling-in Programme within 7 days of arrival, excluding Sundays and public holidays. She cannot attend on her arrival day and cannot start work before she has attended.
6. Medical examination within 14 days of arrival. The Work Permit is issued only if she passes.

The levy starts on the fifth day after arrival for a first time helper, counting the arrival day. The honest answer to "how long does this take" is that the paperwork is the fast part and the shortlisting is the slow part. If you are due in three months, start the conversation now.

After that, a six monthly medical examination is required throughout her employment, paid by you. Helpers aged 50 and above are exempt and are examined at permit renewal instead.

On whether you qualify at all: MOM assesses household income but does not publish the figure. In MOM's own words, "While the household income or monthly salary is a qualifying criteria, we are unable to reveal the exact amount." Any agency quoting you a precise minimum income is inventing it.

Cameras, screens and what to write down

Cameras belong in common areas, never where she sleeps or bathes, and you tell her where they are on day one. A disclosed camera protects her as much as it protects you. A hidden one poisons the relationship the moment it is discovered, and it will be.

Agree the screen rule in writing before she starts rather than after you see something you dislike. And to settle a common worry: a helper speaking her own language to your toddler does not cause speech delay.

The written household agreement is the highest return hour you will spend. Cover nights, the rest day, phone use, screens, cameras, and who decides on feeding and sleep.

If it does not work out

Replacement windows exist and they are finite, so raise problems early rather than hoping. Transfer and repatriation are different paths with different costs. The real decision point is usually whether the gap is skill, which is trainable, or temperament with the baby, which is not trainable in the time you have. If you are considering someone already in Singapore, we explain how transfer helpers work.

Questions parents actually ask

Do I automatically get the $60 levy if my baby is a Singapore citizen?

Yes, if you are the parent. It runs from your child's date of birth and there is nothing to apply for. Expect it to appear within your next two levy bills, backdated.

One of my children is a Singapore citizen and one is a PR. Does the PR child count?

No. Under the young child category MOM requires Singapore citizenship. A PR child does not create a concession.

I have two young children. Can I get $60 on a second helper?

Only if there are two eligible persons in the household. The concession is one helper per eligible person, capped at two helpers per household.

Can I ask her to do night feeds?

Yes, if it is agreed before she signs and the daytime workload comes down so she actually sleeps. Discovering it in week two is how placements fail.

How do I know she has really looked after a newborn?

Ask the age of the youngest baby she cared for in weeks, whether she did night feeds alone, and for one former employer who can confirm the baby care specifically.

How long before I can leave her alone with my baby?

Plan for about eight weeks of graduated supervision rather than a handover. Start with short absences from around week four and extend from there.

Can I put a camera where she looks after my baby?

In common areas, yes, and tell her where they are on day one. Never where she sleeps or bathes. Disclosed cameras protect her as much as they protect you.

What happens if I miss a levy payment?

A late payment attracts a penalty. Miss two consecutive months and her Work Permit is revoked the following month.