Better Use of a Mother's Help

This is how I would do things differently in hindsight:

Left the mother’s help alone more to play with Sofia or take her out while I go to read/go for a walk/have general Me-time in another room.
At the time I couldn’t contemplate being in the house with Sofia but not with her. I felt so inadequate as a mum that I tried to compensate by being by her side in every moment. The only time I would leave her with Pauline would be when I was catatonic with exhaustion to go an crash on my bed. Never to do something enjoyable for myself. I know my feelings were normal for a first-time mum. But I would have been much happier if I had been able to let go more. And Pauline probably would have been happier too.

Vetted my employee more thoroughly to make sure she was efficient with the chores and comfortable going to parks and toddler groups.

Used baby food jars instead of getting her to cook for Sofia, and got a dishwasher earlier to save on the washing up.
It didn’t make any economical sense paying someone to cook for Sofia instead of buying jars. Or nutritional sense for that matter, with all the range of organic cuisine for babies these days. But I had this stubborn desire to be like the other mums I knew and thought Pauline should do the things I would like to do for Sofia had I had more energy.