Reply to Explain a night nurse to me

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I used to do this.  There are three levels:
Night nanny: just a lady who has some experience caring for newborns.
Newborn Care Specialist: some minor training and at least 1800 hours of hands-on experience with newborn care
Baby nurse: Should have an RN or LPN, but occasionally people in the night nanny category will call themselves this, not realizing that it puts them at risk of liability since they are not medical professionals.

You can have someone who is awake the whole night but you usually have to pay extra for it.  I was never getting much sleep but it is nearly impossible to sit quietly in a dark room with a sleeping baby and not drift off here and there.  But I was never sleeping so deeply that I missed a whimper from the baby(ies).

Typically I would arrive between 9-10, depending on when the baby went down.  I would usually chat with the parents while they did the last feed of the night, then I would get the baby(ies) down for the night.  Usually new parents have lots of questions, so typically I would spend the first “shift” (10-1) putting together an email for them with links to sources that answered any questions they had or helped with any issues they mentioned (swaddling, soothing, bottle-feeding, nursing, scheduling, bathing—all that basic trouble-shooting).  Then when the baby woke I would either bring to parents for nursing or make a bottle and afterwards I would handle burping, changing and settling baby.  If a parent was nursing I would offer to bring drinks or snacks during the feed.  If they were pumping I would wash and sanitize pump parts and assemble for the next feed, or if bottle-fed I would wash and sanitize bottles and prep formula for the next meal.

The middle shift of 1-4-ish I would usually just rest and sit in the chair in the nursery.  When they woke I would rinse and repeat the routine from before.  Then 4-7 I would prep bottles or pump parts and tidy the nursery for the next day.

My clients fell into a few categories:
1) families with multiples
2) high-needs babies such as colic, gastro tube, severe reflux, or other medical complications
3) Parent with medical needs such as PPD or PPA, or complications with the delivery or preexisting disability that caused them to need more help such as MS or RA
4) Parents who used only one or two nights a week to keep from being completely exhausted (usually either a single parent, a coparent who had no parental leave and long work hours or a SAH parent with other children who needed attention during the day that precluded napping with the baby).[/quote]

This is very helpful, thank you.[/quote]

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