Explore and Compare Pricing
Moonlit Cradles is a boutique home staffing agency that specializes in newborn care. To best support our community of incredible caregivers, we have structured our pricing in alignment with our core values.
Please carefully review the pricing comparisons below to see what we do differently.
Moonlit Cradles Pricing Structure
The Newborn Care Specialist sets their own hourly rate, separate from agency fees. For the purpose of these examples, we will use the average national hourly rate of $40 per hour.
The separate agency fee is $500 to initiate a search, and $4,000 to place a caregiver through Moonlit Cradles.
The Newborn Care Specialist earns their desired hourly rate. When caregivers feel their compensation is fair, and reflects their experience level accurately, there is less chance for caregiver resentment or burn out. The Newborn Care Specialist is in full control of their schedule.
The family pays an agency fee that does not change regardless of length of contract. This encourages families to keep their newborn caregiver for longer contract lengths, which allows the caregiver more time to fully sleep condition the newborn before their departure.
Because the agency fees are fixed, short term contracts (2 weeks) can cost families more with Moonlit Cradles than it would with our competitors.
Popular Doula Agency Pricing Structure
The agency sets the rate for their newborn caregivers. The agency charges the family a higher hourly rate, and collects 36% of that hourly rate as their agency fee.
For example, the family pays $50 per every hour the caregiver works. The agency keeps $18 per hour and pays the caregiver $32 per hour.
Because this agency allots their caregivers an hourly rate that is well below the national average, they rarely place high quality, experienced Newborn Care Specialists with families (because specialists do not accept lower rates).
This is a benefit to the caregivers who are just starting out in Newborn Care and need their first jobs to build their resume and training.
The agency fees continue to grow - the more hours the caregiver is scheduled for, the more money the agency receives. This sometimes leads to the agency pushing their caregivers to work more hours than they are comfortable with.
For short term contracts (2 weeks), this model is most cost effective for families. For long term contracts (20 weeks) this model requires a higher investment than Moonlit Cradles.
The Newborn Care Specialist sets their own hourly rate, separate from agency fees. For the purpose of these examples, we will use the average national hourly rate of $40 per hour.
The agency multiplies the total earnings of the Newborn Care contract by 20%, and charges that 20% as their agency fee.
Popular Nanny Agency Pricing Structure
The Pros and Cons of Each Pricing Structure
Similarly to Moonlit Cradles, the Newborn Care Specialist earns their desired hourly rate. When caregivers feel their compensation is fair, and reflects their experience level accurately, there is less chance for caregiver resentment or burn out. The Newborn Care Specialist is in full control of their schedule.
The family pays an agency fee in addition to paying the caregiver an hourly rate. It is a percentage of the total earnings of the Newborn Care Specialist, meaning the agency fee grows dependent on the hourly rate and contract length that the caregiver and family decide on.
This can lead to families attempting to underpay their Newborn Care Specialist in order to keep agency fees down. It also can lead to families desiring a short contract length, which will help in the moment but end before the caregiver can fully sleep condition the newborn.