Baby Care and Nanny Services in Kerala

A nanny is not a house maid

Worth being clear, because this causes more failed placements than anything else in this category.

Decide which you actually need. If you need both, that's usually two people, or a nanny who has agreed in advance to take on some light household work and is being paid accordingly. Agree it before she starts rather than expanding the job later, which is how good placements go wrong.

If it's mostly household work you need, see house maid.

What a nanny does

The work shifts with the child's age. For an infant it's feeding, changing, settling and sleep. For a toddler it's supervision, play, meals and keeping them safe while they're into everything. Across both, what you're actually paying for is attention: someone whose whole job is watching your child.

Common expectations include feeding and bottle preparation, nappy changes, bathing, managing nap and sleep routines, play and age-appropriate activity, sterilising bottles and keeping the child's things clean, taking the child out safely where agreed, and telling you honestly how the day went.

Checking her yourself

We check every profile before it's listed.

That said, for childcare specifically, do not stop at our check. Do your own, and do it properly:

• Call at least two previous families she's worked for. Not just take the number, actually call. Ask whether they'd hire her again.
• Meet her with your child present and watch how she is with them. Most parents know within twenty minutes.
• Run a trial period with you at home. A week where you're around and she's doing the job tells you more than any interview.
• Ask specific questions. What ages has she looked after? What does she do when a baby won't stop crying? Has she handled a child who was ill? Vague answers to specific questions are the thing to notice.
• Agree the rules explicitly. Who can enter the house, whether the child leaves the house and with whom, screen time, food, what happens in an emergency and who she calls first.

Any carer worth hiring will expect all of this and won't be offended by it.

What it costs

The subscription is what you pay us for profile access:

One subscription covers the whole period. No commission on any hire. Compare plans

Her salary is paid directly to her. A full-time nanny in Kerala generally earns ₹12,000 to ₹20,000 a month in 2026, with live-in arrangements higher and Kochi and Trivandrum above the northern districts. Experience with infants, and any nursing background, pushes it up.

Nanny or day care

Depends mostly on the child's age and your hours.

A nanny at home suits infants, children who are unwell often, and parents with unpredictable hours. The child stays in familiar surroundings and gets one person's full attention. It costs more and it depends entirely on one person, so a day off is your problem.

Day care suits toddlers upwards, gives the child company and routine, and doesn't collapse when one person is unwell. It costs less. It also means fixed pick-up times, which doesn't work for everyone, and more frequent illness in the first few months.

Many families in Kochi and Trivandrum run both: day care for the mornings, a nanny for the afternoons and evenings.

Care for school-age children

The requirement changes once a child is at school. They don't need watching every minute, but somebody has to be home when they get back at four, and in most Kerala households with both parents working, nobody is.

What families usually want covered:

• Collecting the child from school or the bus stop, where that's agreed
• Being at home through the gap between school ending and a parent returning
• Giving them a proper meal rather than leaving them to it
• Keeping them to homework before screens
• Supervising play and keeping them safe at home
• Taking them to tuition, music class or coaching where agreed
• Telling you what actually happened during the day

Some families arrange this alongside household work, since school-age children need supervision rather than constant attention. That can be a fair arrangement for both sides, but agree it explicitly: which hours are for the children and which for the house, and what happens when the two conflict. The child comes first, and that should be said out loud rather than assumed.

If the child is being taken out of the house at all, for school pickup or tuition, settle the specifics before she starts. Which route, which vehicle, who else is allowed to collect the child, what she does if you can't be reached, and who she calls in an emergency. Write it down. This is the part families skip and it's the part that matters.

The same checks apply here as for any carer working with your children. Call previous families, meet her with your child, run a trial period while you're at home, and be specific in what you ask. A carer who welcomes those checks is the one you want.

For younger children and infants, see the sections above. For a newborn and a recovering mother, see post-delivery care.

Where we cover

• Kochi
• Trivandrum
• Calicut
• Thrissur
• Kottayam
• Kollam
• Alappuzha
• Palakkad
• Malappuram
• Kannur
• Wayanad
• Kasaragod
• Idukki
• Pathanamthitta
• Bangalore

For a newborn and a recovering mother, see post-delivery care. For school-age children, see care for school-age children.