Maids in Singapore

Source: Maids in Singapore

Introduction to Maids in Singapore

It has been estimated that one in five households in Singapore has a maid, with some households having two maids for various reasons.

Cost of having a maid in Singapore

Monthly salary of maid is around $450 to $500 and the more experienced maids may request for even more.

Other than the monthly salary, you also need to pay foreign domestic worker levy on a monthly basis which can range from $120 to $265.

Other monthly costs of having a maid include expenditures on food, utility and toiletry.

When you hire maid for the first time, you also need to pay maid agency fee which can range from $1000 to $2000, depending on the service coverage. Other upfront costs include expenditure on insurance, medical examination, air tickets and fee for employer orientation program.

You can refer cost of hiring maid in Singapore for details.

Steps of Hiring a Maid through Maid Agencies in Singapore

It takes about 4 to 6 weeks to hire a maid through maids agencies or employment agencies. You can refer to MOM website for a list of licensed maid agencies.

After selecting maid agencies, maid agency will provide bio-data of available maids to you and you will interview your choice maid through phone, webcam or face to face which will be arranged by the maid agency.

After selecting your desired maid, you will need to buy insurance for your choice maid, apply work permit for her and bring her for medical checkup. These are usually done by the maid agencies.

If you are hiring maid for the first time, you will be required to attend the employer orientation program conducted by the ministry of manpower.

Please click step hiring maid in Singapore for details

Maid Agencies in Singapore

There are about 1000 maid agencies or employment agencies in Singapore. You can get a list of them through the Ministry of Manpower websites for the licensed maid agencies or employment agencies.

MOM also track the credibility and service quality of the maid agency by introducing the demerit point, foreign domestic worker success retention rate and foreign domestic worker transfer rate.

You can read further here on how to select a maid agency in Singapore.

Hiring A Transfer Maid in Singapore

Hiring transfer maid offer some advantages such as saving money on air ticket and getting a more experienced maid.

You can click here on how to hire a transfer maid in Singapore to learn other advantages and how to do it.

Management of Maids in Singapore

Maid is just like another person that needs to be respected. A good management of maids will be beneficial to both parties.

Good management of maids require setting proper expectations, house rules and personal preference of you and your family and appropriate timetable and communicate these to your maid upon her arrival. Proper training of tools and appliance should also be provided to help maid to get used to new working environment easier and faster.

Click Management of Maids to learn how to manage your maid in details

Maid Related Problems in Singapore

Conflicts or problems can occur. In any situation, do not ever physically or verbally abuse your maid, doing so will get you into jail and fine.

Serious problem include maid get pregnant in which you have to send her back immediately else you will risk losing security deposit.

Other serious problem include maid running away or doing part time job during her off day.

For details, you can take a look on how to deal with maid related serious problems that may occur to your maid.

Fertility and Vitamins

 Source: Fertility and Vitamins

Some studies have shown that women that have sufficient vitamins in their bodies are twice likely to get pregnant as compared to those women that do not take sufficient vitamins daily.

Couples, therefore should consider having vitamin supplement if they want to have baby.

Here are some of the vitamins or minerals that are important to fertility:

Vitamin B12 and Fertility:

For men, deficiency of this vitamin can lead to reduced sperm counts and motility.

For women, deficiency of this vitamin has been found to be related to recurrent miscarriage. It also interfere with normal cell division and ovulation. It also affect how the fertilized egg is implanted in the lining of the uterus.

Vitamin C and Fertility:

Vitamin C is an antioxidant that can help to maintain the quality of semen and sperm. Lack of this antioxidant is found to cause the sperms to clump together which decreases their motility.

Read further on Vitamin and Fertility to Learn Vitamin D, Folic Acid and Fertility

Prevent constipation after delivery

Source: Prevent constipation after delivery

Lack of fibre in the diet, staying in bed for too long causing the slow down of the movement of intestine and frequent sweating of the mother can all lead to constipation in the mother after delivery.

Postpartum constipation can be prevented through proper diet, appropriate exercises and adequate sleep.

Appropriate exercises can prevent constipation. If the mother had a normal vaginal delivery, mother can start to get out of bed in the next day. You should slowly increase the amount of time you spend outside the bed and try to walk more. This can help to relieve constipation.

Adequate sleep is also an effective way of preventing constipation. To ensure the new mother has sufficient sleep, other family members or maid, or nanny should help to do the house chore and other works and the new mother should try to sleep when her child is sleeping.

In addition, you may want to include the following into your diet: honey, milk, peanut, sesame seeds. All these food items have a laxative effect which can help to prevent constipation.

Maids Management in Singapore

Source: How to Manage Your Maid in Singapore

Regardless of her background, your maid is just like any other person that deserves to be respected. You are indeed the boss and you should treat your maid in a way that you like your boss to treat you.

Why management of your maid important?

Treating your maid fairly will bring you lot of benefit, both tangible and intangible. It is therefore worth the effort on trying to make her employment with you a happy one.

Firstly, you can save lots of time and money on changing maids. If you change maid too frequently, the Ministry of Manpower will also make it hard for you to apply work permit for new maid.

Secondly, if your maid is looking after your baby, it is going to take some time for your baby to get used to the practice of your new maid. Sometimes, your baby may not be able sleep well or experience anxiety when you have a new maid at home.

If your maid is looking after your parents, your parents may prefer to stick to old maid as they have gotten used to the way the old maid helps them.

Thirdly, you are going to spend another round of time and effort on training your new maid to use your household tools and appliances and communicating your household rule and expectations.

Lastly, a happy maid is an efficient maid. A happy maid may go the extra mile to help you and look after your baby just like her own baby and your parents just like her parents.

How should I manage my maid?

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 1. SET REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS AND COMMUNICATE THEM TO MAID

Before you employ a maid, you should think very carefully about your expectation of a maid.

When you interview the maid through phone, webcam or face-to-face, you may want to mention some of these expectations and see how the maid responds to them.

Write your expectations down and pass it to your maid once she arrives. You may want to write them on a paper and paste it on wall where your maid can easily see just in case she may forget some of them.

To go the extra step, you may consider translating your expectation into your maid's mother tongue just in case there is a language barrier.

When you write your expectations clearly, it is also going to benefit your maid as she knows what she is expected and make herself fit into the job easier and faster.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 2. PROPER TRAINING

Your maid agency may have provided some sort of training to the maid, but you still need to train your maid in the first few weeks after her arrival. This is because tools used by the maid agencies may be different from those at your house. Such training can help your maid to get used to the working environment faster.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 3. REASONABLE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

You should give your maid 7 to 8 hours to sleep, enough food to eat to keep her fit and healthy. This can also make sure she has enough energy to do all the tasks assigned by you.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 4. A SCHEDULE OR TIMETABLE

It is good to have a schedule for your maid, you may pass the schedule to her when she arrives.

In your schedule, you may want to specify how frequent you want your maid to sweep the floor, clean the kitchen and toilet, clean window and how much time she should spend on playing your child. Be as specific as possible so that your maid can follow easily.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 5. YOUR HOUSE RULES

You may also want to communicate your house rules to your maid. For example, you may not want your maid to enter your bedroom without your permission. You may want to limit the number of calls she can make using your home fixed line. You may like her to switch her hand phone to silent mode at night.

Again, write them down and pass it to your maid.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 6. YOUR PERSONAL PREFERENCE AND COMMON SENSE

Same task, different people may do it differently using different method with different input, taking different amount of time. For example, you use three buckets of water to sweep the floor, but your maid may just want to use two. Do not get offended when your maid carries out the task differently from yours. Try to communicate your preference to your maid if you are not comfortable with her method of carrying out the task.

Furthermore, a matter may be common sense to you, but it may not be a common sense to another person. Do not use common sense as an excuse to judge your maid. Do not forget your maid's background is perhaps totally different from you.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 7. CONSISTENT FEEDBACK

Try to give your maid feedback so that she knows whether she has done a good job or not. If there is anything you like her to improve, try to feedback to her and do not sound that you are scolding her. If she has done anything excellent, do praise her for the good work.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 8. INCENTIVES FOR GOOD WORK

You may want to reward your maid for the good work done, in the form of a small amount of cash or an extra day off or anything your maid may like. Everyone, including us, will respond positively to the incentives.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 9. DO NOT OVERDEPENDENCE ON YOUR MAID

Do you still remember the picture showing a maid carrying a soldier's bag? This picture had gone viral online and media, online or offline, all over the world had reported it.

Do you remember another picture showing a maid helping her female employer to tie shoe laces?

Definitely you do not want your child to grow up to be weak soldier. Although maid is a domestic helper, there are many things you or your family members should do on your own.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 10. USE OF HAND PHONE

Use of hand phone has caused many conflicts between maid and employer and some employers even resort to confiscate maid's hand phone to prevent maid from using it. It is right that a maid should not use hand phone during work, especially when she is looking after your baby. However employer should not restrict maid from using hand phone when she has completed all tasks and your baby is asleep. Confiscating her phone should only be the last resort if your maid is caught using phone often while looking after your baby or parents.

MANAGEMENT OF MAID 11. DO NOT EVER ABUSE YOUR MAID

If you do not like your maid for various reasons, do not ever abuse maid verbally or physically, you can simply change her or even badmouth her online. But if you abuse her verbally or physically, you may get into the trouble with law.

A healthy employer-employee relationship is beneficial to both you and the maid. It should start with first a proper communication with reasonable expectation, house rule and personal preference, follow by consistent feedback and rewards for good work. If you manage your maid well and she is willing to follow, she may in the end become an integral part of your family.

Maids in Singapore

Source: Maids in Singapore

Introduction to Maids in Singapore

It has been estimated that one in five households in Singapore has a maid, with some households having two maids for various reasons.

Cost of having a maid in Singapore

Monthly salary of maid is around $450 to $500 and the more experienced maids may request for even more.

Other than the monthly salary, you also need to pay foreign domestic worker levy on a monthly basis which can range from $120 to $265.

Other monthly costs of having a maid include expenditures on food, utility and toiletry.

When you hire maid for the first time, you also need to pay maid agency fee which can range from $1000 to $2000, depending on the service coverage. Other upfront costs include expenditure on insurance, medical examination, air tickets and fee for employer orientation program.

You can refer cost of hiring maid in Singapore for details.

Steps of Hiring a Maid through Maid Agencies in Singapore

It takes about 4 to 6 weeks to hire a maid through maids agencies or employment agencies. You can refer to MOM website for a list of licensed maid agencies.

After selecting maid agencies, maid agency will provide bio-data of available maids to you and you will interview your choice maid through phone, webcam or face to face which will be arranged by the maid agency.

After selecting your desired maid, you will need to buy insurance for your choice maid, apply work permit for her and bring her for medical checkup. These are usually done by the maid agencies.

If you are hiring maid for the first time, you will be required to attend the employer orientation program conducted by the ministry of manpower.

Please click step hiring maid in Singapore for details

Maid Agencies in Singapore

There are about 1000 maid agencies or employment agencies in Singapore. You can get a list of them through the Ministry of Manpower websites for the licensed maid agencies or employment agencies.

MOM also track the credibility and service quality of the maid agency by introducing the demerit point, foreign domestic worker success retention rate and foreign domestic worker transfer rate.

Hiring A Transfer Maid in Singapore

Hiring transfer maid offer some advantages such as saving money on air ticket and getting a more experienced maid.

You can click here on how to hire a transfer maid in Singapore to learn other advantages and how to do it.

Management of Maids in Singapore

Maid is just like another person that needs to be respected. A good management of maids will be beneficial to both parties.

Good management of maids require setting proper expectations, house rules and personal preference of you and your family and appropriate timetable and communicate these to your maid upon her arrival. Proper training of tools and appliance should also be provided to help maid to get used to new working environment easier and faster.

Click Management of Maids to learn how to manage your maid in details

Maid Related Problems in Singapore

Conflicts or problems can occur. In any situation, do not ever physically or verbally abuse your maid, doing so will get you into jail and fine.

Serious problem include maid get pregnant in which you have to send her back immediately else you will risk losing security deposit.

Other serious problem include maid running away or doing part time job during her off day.

For details, you can take a look on how to deal with maid related serious problems that may occur to your maid.

Nosebleed during pregnancy

Source: Nosebleed during pregnancy

During pregnancy, it is more likely for expectant mothers to suffer from nosebleed. This is because during pregnancy, there is an increase in the hormone estrogen in the body. This hormone causes blood vessel dilatation which can result in nosebleeding in the expectant mothers more easily. Also, there is an increase in the blood volume during pregnancy in the body of the expectant mother, this increase in blood volume also puts pressure on the blood vessels and causes them to rupture more easily and therefore nosebleed.

What to do when it occurs to me?

Once it occurs, expectant mothers should sit and raise heads slightly. Using your thumb and the first finger to put pressure on the lower part of the nose. Nosebleed usually lasts for more than 5 minutes, hence you should not let go your hands for 5 for 10 minutes. You should time it using a clock or a watch as most of us will become curious to see whether it has stopped after 2 to 3 minutes.

You can also apply cold or iced towel to your forehead which can help to promote local vasoconstriction which can help to reduce bleeding and accelerate healing.

If the bleeding does not stop after 15 minutes, you should check with doctor. If it occurs to you very often, you should also seek doctor's help.

How to prevent?

• Nosebleed is usually triggered by dryness. You should therefore drink more fluid to keep your nose and whole body well hydrated.
• Put a humidifier in your room if you use air-conditioner very often.
• Do not pick your nose, especially after nosebleed.
• You may apply some ointment or lubricant which can be found in the local pharmacies to reduce dryness in nostrils.

Recommended Practice of Pacifier

Source: Recommended Practice of Pacifier

Recommended Practice of Pacifier 1

If you are breasfeeding, you should wait for one month before the introduction of the pacifier to your child. This allows the breastfeeding habit of the child to be established so that you will not experience any breastfeeding problem after your child starts to use pacifier.

Recommended Practice of Pacifier 2

You should keep the pacifier clean. Before you pass the pacifier to your baby, you should clean it according to the instruction manual. You should never dip the pacifier with sweet or anything sweet. This can help to minimize the impact of the pacifier on your baby's teeth. When the pacifier is dropped or becomes dirty, you should clean with water before it is used again.

Recommended Practice of Pacifier 3

You should also regularly check the pacifier for any sign of crack or tear. Replace them immediately if it is worn or torn.

Recommended Practice of Pacifier 4

It is suggested that you should start to phase out the use of pacifier after one year of age. This can help to prevent the negative impact of the pacifier on your child's teeth and ear as ear infection are is common for children over 6 months old.