Need Advice - Is there a solution here??

I recently started nannying part-time for a four-month-old. The baby won’t bottle feed, so I go to the mom’s work to watch her (they have a spare office where we set up). I normally hate even working for work-from-home parents, but she is a friend of a friend and they are desperate for childcare help in the face of this unexpected obstacle.

For whatever reason, the baby has not adjusted well to me being there. I suspect it’s because her parents have been doing almost all the childcare up until this point, and it’s stressful to add a stranger in the mix. Normally I would not be that stressed about this, but because of the environment, it doesn’t feel like this is working out. Baby cries often, and her mom usually rushes in to soothe her if it goes on for more than a minute in order to reduce disruptions to the office. I get it, but because of this, baby expects her mom to come every time she cries. If mom is in a meeting, baby can cry for the whole hour or two with no let up and no solution, because she expects her cries to bring her mom back. She pretty much will not be soothed by me.

I would tell mom to give her time to soothe without coming in, especially because she has mentioned being stressed about reduced productivity, but it’s a difficult situation. Recently, after baby was crying relentlessly while mom was in a meeting, her boss “dropped by” to say, “Man, she sure was noisy today!” in a really pointed way, and likes to mention things like this pretty regularly. So obviously just letting baby cry a little while she adjusts to mom being gone is not going to work if mom is going to keep her job. Other employees (almost all of whom are moms, and so kinda get it) also drop in regularly to offer advice if she’s crying, which, while well intentioned, never really helps the actual problem.

The whole situation is driving me nuts. The “friendly advice” and hyper-attentive mom make me feel like they think I’m the worst nanny in the world, when really I know it’s just the circumstances and (hopefully!) nothing about me that is causing this. I know the parents are super stressed and I would hate to add to that by making them have to look for other childcare, but I don’t know how much longer I can do this. I leave totally exhausted—mentally, emotionally, and even physically from all the bouncing and rocking and attempts at soothing—often to go to another nannying job, since this is only part-time. Is there a solution here??

Regards,