A concerned mother turned to the internet for advice after making a series of shocking discoveries about her children's nanny, including that she tried to breastfeed one of her children.
The mother, who has a five-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son, wrote in a Reddit post she and her husband hired the 20-year-old daughter of their neighbour to be their new babysitter.
"My kids are in love with this girl and I'd be lying if I said she wasn't a blessing to our family," the mum began the post.
"I wanted someone who would love my kids as if they were their own and she does just that and then some.
"She's always more than willing to help out, even when I don't ask."
The mum added that she had mentioned to the nanny she doesn't produce much milk, which forces her to rely on donor milk to feed her son.
"She was very sympathetic and inquisitive about the situation, and I was happy to answer all of her questions while simultaneously thinking nothing of it."
The mother said she has hidden 'nanny' cameras set up in their lounge, but she "never felt compelled to check".
"However, I was having a rough day yesterday and wanted to see what the little ones were up to so I decided to pop in.
"My nanny was sitting on my bed, rocking my son, and attempting to breastfeed him."
The woman says she "almost felt sick, it just seemed so inappropriate".
"I decided to wait until I got home to confront her about it, and when I asked she was incredibly apologetic. She said she wanted to help because of my milk production issues and never meant any harm."
After initially accepting the nanny's apology, the mum said she became suspicious and started going through old footage from the home cameras, where she found the odd behaviour wasn't a one-off occurrence.
"She unplugs the camera in my bedroom when she goes to put him down for naps and plugs it back in when she leaves," she added.
"After reviewing our recordings this wasn't the first time she attempted to breastfeed my son, among a few other questionable things - closing my daughter in the pantry, leaving my son in the backyard unattended, etc."
The mum also noticed some of her children's baby items were missing, including baby blankets and clothes.
She asked the Reddit community if it would be unfair to fire the nanny, and the response was overwhelming.
The majority of the 400 commenters told her it was the only option - and many even recommended contacting the police.
"I've worked as a nanny. This is beyond inappropriate. You need boundaries in place, like, yesterday. If you decided to fire her in order to set that boundary, I won't be mad at you," wrote oner person.
"The woman doesn't even have a baby. She doesn't lactate! If she was another new mother acting as a wet nurse without OP's permission, that would be gross and violating enough already. [This has] incredibly creepy connotations to me," added another.
The mother then edited the post to reveal the end of the saga, adding she'd been left devastated by the incident.
"We've decided to let her go, obviously, and I'm going to be taking a few weeks of leave to take my kids in for check-ups," she added.
"My husband and I are horrified and heartbroken that we facilitated a situation in which our children's safety was put at risk."
