A mum has defended her decision to employ a full-time au pair – saying it allows her to be a "better mum".

Katie Bunton, 31 - who is a full-time mum to her twins, Oscar and Brook, two - opted to hire a live-in au pair for support during the day.

Her au pair a 21-year-old from Sweden - helps out with housework and childcare which gives Katie the space to cook tea, take some down time and go to the gym.

Katie says the au pair is like an extra child or a little sister "who helps fill in the gaps" - by giving her time to be with her kids and go on date nights with her husband.

She didn't want to reveal how much she is paying her but says the au pair lives with them and they cover all her major expenses while she's working.

Mum-of-two Katie, a content creator, from Byron Bay, Australia, said: "Having extra help has caused major controversy for me.

"I have been very harshly judged by people on social media and in real life.

"If anything, having that extra person here to help has made me a better mum rather than a bad mum.

"She feels like an extra part of our family, it feels like a little sister or extra child that helps fill in the gaps.

"She is just a member of her family."

Katie and her husband, Henry Bunton, 40, a management consultant, hired their au pair six weeks after Katie's sister got one last year.

She said: "I always thought having an au pair or a nanny would be out of reach for me.

"After meeting with her and learning about the dynamic and what they do we realised we could afford one.

"She lives at home with us, we have a lot of space at home and that is another reason we considered having someone move in with us."

Katie said her au pair worked in America for a number of years before she moved to Australia to work with families in the country.

She said it is going "really well" and the extra help allows her to focus on her children.

Katie said: "It seems to be going really well, she is enjoying it.

"She feels like an extra member of a family, whether that be playing with the kids when I cook dinner or helping with cleaning.

"Just being able to do daily chores with the kids not screaming at my feet.

"I can focus on cooking dinner for the family without two toddlers reaching at me.

"It's almost like a functioning member of the family.

"Historically, we have always had trouble with babysitters and childcare.

"The boys don't warm up to people that quickly but having her live at home, every morning they are asking for her."

Katie said the au pair works three days a week between 8.30am and 4.30pm and will work every other weekend so Katie and Harry can have a date night.

She said: "She is contracted 45 hours a week but we don't go anywhere near that.

"She will work three days a week and even on the days she is working I will be at home with them for 50 per cent of that time.

"We have designed a super flexible plan where every other weekend we have a date night so she will have them on a Friday or Saturday but we are flexible with that.

"This weekend we were due to go on a date night but she had booked a weekend away with friends and that was completely fine."

Katie said that the au pair will also go on family holidays with them but said she will get her own time to explore.

She said: "We did a four-night trip to Sydney recently and she came with us.

"As the trip fell on a weekend, we gave her two days off.

"We paid for her travel expenses and gave her time off so she could explore.

"It is super important to make sure she is experiencing the things we are."