Malaysia's Movement Control Order (MCO) that bars Malaysian citizens from leaving the country is currently still in force until June 9, after its latest (fourth) extension last month.

With that, Malaysians already in Singapore working have had to stay put here and avoid heading home — unless they are also prepared to serve a 14-day quarantine order on their own dime (only RM150 or S$49 of an individual's daily expenses in quarantine is covered by the Malaysian government) upon their return.

Likewise, Malaysians entering Singapore to work during this period (and possibly beyond) must serve a mandatory 14-day Stay-Home Notice period at a designated government facility before being able to start any work here.

Whether or not the MCO is indeed lifted, and how, remains to be seen — this uncertainty, though, has impacted the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Malaysians who commute back and forth across the Causeway or Tuas's 2nd Link between Singapore and Malaysia for work.

Meanwhile, people in Singapore continue to give birth every day

And this leaves a lot of people in Singapore in the lurch — people who in particular are counting on Malaysians for the work they do and the services they provide.

One of these groups is hundreds of expectant Singapore parents and parents-to-be, who are giving birth to newborns in the months crossing the Circuit Breaker period and beyond.

Many expectant mothers book the services of confinement nannies, who prove crucial (especially to first-time parents) to a mother's physical recovery from labour in the early weeks following childbirth.

What's a confinement nanny?

If you don't happen to be familiar with the idea of a confinement nanny, she basically provides an orientation (that usually lasts at least a month) to a pair of parents into the world of looking after a newborn human.

Why a month? In certain cultures, it is believed that a mother who has just given birth to a child should spend at least 30 days in confinement at her home with her baby, eating certain food, drinking certain drinks, taking herbal baths and more in order to recover from the taxing toll pregnancy and childbirth has taken on her body.

A live-in nanny frequently spends about a month (although a couple could book more of her time, as long as two months on occasion) at a hiring couple's house, cooking special confinement meals, helping with laundry as well as helping the mother with certain household chores pertinent to childrearing. She also, in some cases, assists with and teaches new parents how to feed, clothe and bathe the baby, as well as help to lull him or her to sleep.

If a baby is on formula milk, or the mother starts pumping breast milk early, the nanny also helps with midnight feeding so the parents can have more rest to aid recovery.

Hundreds of mums-to-be in Singapore left stranded without nannies

From the above, one can infer the importance of a confinement nanny's services to people becoming parents, especially for the first time — particularly in cases where a couple, or tougher still, a single parent, may be lacking in sufficient family support for various reasons.

With hundreds, possibly thousands, of pregnant ladies entering their final weeks of gestation in the months of June, July and August, a good proportion of these would have booked the services of confinement nannies — a large percentage of whom hail from Malaysia.

Many of these have been booked as early as eight or nine months ahead — the more popular ones referred among mothers in Singapore get booked up very long before, and so some mothers-to-be know they have to book time with a confinement nanny almost as soon as they discover they are pregnant.

Unfortunately, however, because nannies often spend long periods (weeks to months) in Singapore working, they would spend the periods between jobs resting back in their home states.

Some agencies offered only partial refunds till last minute

And so, many found themselves stuck in Malaysia when their government announced the lockdown order on March 16. By the time they made sense of it all, the MCO came into force, and they were forced to cancel jobs they had lined up in the months of March, April, May, June and now even July, with the uncertainty up ahead.

W Ong, a first-time-mother-to-be, told Mothership she is due in early July, but has been advised that her chances of going into preterm labour, as soon as early this month, are quite high.

She booked her nanny in January with an agency, and says she was understanding of their difficulties that cropped up resulting from the pandemic and Malaysia's MCO restrictions.

She called them to enquire about the situation when Singapore's Circuit Breaker period began, and was unable to obtain any certainty from the agency — withdrawing her booking with them would only allow her to receive part of her deposit placed with them, however, and so she decided to stick with the agency, with her due date still more than two months away.

When the circuit breaker extended, Ong said she called the agency again, this time to be told to expect a potential delay of "a few days". She was still agreeable with this, until late May, when she, alongside other customers who had booked nannies and who were due in June were informed by the agency that this delay could extend to as long as 10 days.

It was only at this point, Ong said, that she was told she could receive a full refund of her deposit if she wanted to withdraw her booking with them.

"Of course I was quite upset to hear this, as this is quite last minute, so now I have to frantically try to find another nanny," she said.

Her hospitalisation for threatened preterm labour complicated matters for Ong even more, because it meant she would be even more likely to deliver her baby earlier than July.

She admits she is panicking now because she really does need a nanny's help — her husband's parents are not in Singapore and won't be able to fly in to lend support; plus, her mother has a thumb injury, which will limit her ability to help out fully even though she is willing to.

Many agencies fully booked, mums-to-be trying solo freelance operators

Other mums-to-be finding themselves in similar situations booked solo operators who eventually returned deposits or informed them they would not be able to enter Singapore to assist with their confinement periods.

Some of these are still waiting to see if Malaysia lifts their border controls in time, but others are not holding their breaths.

One schoolteacher who wanted to be known as Ms Tan is proactively searching for a nanny even though the one she hired during her second trimester, who is still in Malaysia, hasn't cancelled the job.

Tan, whose due date is July 23, told Mothership she has tried to call multiple agencies here but had no luck thus far.

She had engaged the same nanny as a friend of hers, who ended up giving birth to her third child in May and went without a confinement nanny — although Tan's friend does have a helper at home, and so the situation wasn't as dire for her.

Tan says she finds having a nanny as a first-time mother essential, particularly so she can learn best practices to manage her baby's well-being.

"I really hope to have the help of a nanny to ease the transition from pregnancy to newborn mummy... also so I can rest and recuperate well!"

Prudential consultant Claire Xiao, whose estimated due date is July 22, is in a similar situation; her husband initially booked her nanny in March with an agency.

"In around April when the Circuit Breaker started, he told me the nanny is in Malaysia and likely can't come to Singapore. So the agency told us they can't confirm, hence we didn't go forward."

She told Mothership she and her husband were on the verge of putting down a deposit with the agency when Malaysia's lockdown was suddenly announced, and has been searching for a new nanny for more than a month since.

Unfortunately, nannies who have responded to her requests — which were posted in various Facebook groups so far — are still in Malaysia. She too, tried multiple other local agencies who all informed her their Singapore-located nannies are fully booked.

"My mother-in-law is working and my mum is in China so I'm not sure she can come in by July, but if we really can't find anyone, I will have to rely on my husband and mother-in-law."

Deciding to go it without help

Indeed, some couples are deciding to go without help in view of the situation, and also partly out of concern about the ongoing pandemic — after all, virus containment is uncertain around the region at the moment, including in Malaysia, and so individuals who travel between countries are at risk of being carriers or imported cases of the Covid-19 infection.

One of these parents-to-be, a 32-year-old manager who wanted to be known by his surname Nonis said he and his wife have decided to go without a confinement nanny despite booking one earlier on.

His wife, who is due on July 22 as well, will instead be spending her confinement period with her family — this will avail her the assistance and support of her mother, two sisters, her sister-in-law and also a family helper.

Nonis said he and his wife made the decision to go without a nanny also because one of his wife's relatives, who lives in their household, is occasionally deployed to a Covid-19 red zone in his line of work.

"So technically, my wife's house is an 'unsafe' place, and so it's not fair for us to bring another person into an unsafe place. As much as we worry about the nanny bringing the virus in from Malaysia and keeping with the regulations, socially we shouldn't expose others to it either."

Thankfully for him, the nanny they had booked, who is also still in Malaysia, was understanding of their decision, and returned their deposit as soon as they informed her of it.

They also didn't like the uncertainty of the constantly-evolving situation, and did not want to wait till the end of this month or even the middle of next month before firming up their plans.

And then there are MOM's restrictions

Now, even if a mother-to-be were still holding out hope to hire a nanny who is still in Malaysia, there are also the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)'s conditions to contend with.

Its site already states clearly, even with bolded text, that people are "strongly urged" to avoid bringing in confinement nannies from overseas, and also that the chances of getting approval to bring a nanny in are "very slim":

So should you still try to bring in a nanny from Malaysia?

The MOM says, as with all new arrivals into Singapore in this period, confinement nannies arriving from across the Causeway will have to serve out a mandatory 14-day Stay-Home Notice period at a government-designated facility.

This will be funded by the government, but will also constitute 14 days that your nanny will not be able to start work with you.

It's also worth bearing in mind that should a nanny go back to Malaysia after finishing her work in your household, she will likely also need to serve out a 14-day quarantine there — a lot, therefore, hinges on her willingness to invest these additional 28 days not being able to earn money in Singapore or Malaysia, or anywhere else.

All that being said, if you do really need to hire a nanny and your only option is residing in Malaysia, you can read more about (trying to) bring one in here.

Top photos via Unsplash, by Andrew Koay