PARENTS and maid agencies here are taking more precautions when it comes to hiring domestic help for their newborns.

They say a more thorough selection  process and more guidance at home is needed when it comes to finding a maid.

"It scares me right down to the bone," said call centre executive Madam Nuraini Asmawi, 26, of the six video clips recently uploaded on YouTube. It showed an Indonesian maid kicking, shaking and hitting a young baby under her charge.

Madam Nuraini had decided against employing a maid and has been taking her 11-month-old daughter from her home in Bedok to her mother's place in Hougang every day. She added: "It can be taxing, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Plus, my child will grow up closer to her grandmother and not pampered or potentially abused by a maid."

Corporate communications executive Mrs Jean Wee, 30, also did not want to take any chances when her eldest daughter was born. She ended up firing her first maid after just three months.

She said: "She was taking my kid out without my permission, even after I told her not to. If she can't obey a simple instruction while I am at home, how can I trust her to be alone with my children?"

That was five years ago. She now leaves her daughters Alison, 5, and Zoe, 1, in the care of her Indonesian maid, Emily, with little worry while she and her husband are at work.

"It's important to treat your maid well, pay her well and have regular communication with her. I'll ask her about her family and if she's happy with her work," said Mrs Wee, who initially had her parents-in-law watch over Emily and Alison at their home until the family felt that they could trust her.

Some other parents prefer to err on the side of caution and put off hiring domestic help as long as they can. Mr Francis Chen, manager of APac Employment Management, which has been deploying maids from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia for the past 17 years, acknowledges that maid agencies should take more responsibility in matching employers and employees to prevent such incidents.

For parents with very young children, he advises employing maids who are older, have children, and have worked outside their home countries before. Mr Chen said: "When young maids go to a strange country that they have never been before, they are bound to be homesick, more dreamy and more prone to making mistakes."

One Indonesian maid said that the maid in the video had no right to abuse a defenceless child.

"However, the maid could have reacted that way because she's not happy with her boss, or she could be feeling unwell," said Ms Ummairoh, 28, who has been working here for nine years.

She is single, but is currently looking after children aged 2 and 4.

"My employers trust me. From my view, perhaps some families keep a distance from their maids. If there's no co-operation, it can be a mess for the kids."

debyong@sph.com.sg