Baby Nursery Questions-

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hello everyone-i have a few questions about the baby nursery-after i graduate from highschool, i want to get into the nursing career. i would like to work in the healthy baby nursery, and once i get experience with the healthy babies for a while, i will probably want to go into nicu. if anyone could please let me know the process to getting there,from highschool,on..etc.i would apprieciate it very much. also is there anything i can do now involving this, until i am finished with the rest of my highschool year.maybe in a hospital?-

-thank you all in advance :)

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I hired into the Mother/Baby unit after I graduated nursing school. We (the RNs) worked in teams of 2. One team would work in the nursery, and the other teams were assigned out on the floor to the moms (and those babies rooming-in.) The schedule varied from day to day, but each RN averaged working in nursery one day a month. Nobody was allowed to work in there ALL the time.

Anyway, a little over a year later, there came to be an opening in NICU (which is what I wanted all along) - I love it, and I think the experience of taking care of healthy babies (and their moms) was good background for what I do now.

Just keep in mind that, contrary to popular opinion in the general population, Mom/baby nurses and NICU nurses do not (I repeat, DO NOT!!!!) sit around all day cuddling and playing with babies. We work our butts off!!!!! And in NICU, you will see some very tough stuff to deal with.

Not trying to scare you off!!! Just want you to know what you are in for!!! I love NICU and would never do anything else!!! If you are determined and your heart is set on it, go for it!!!! Good luck and keep us posted!!!

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Hi, Thanks for replying back,and Thanks for all the information. Oh yes i understand its a hard job, you just dont sit there with the babies, im aware of that. Ok Thank You again and i will keep everyone posted, also if anyone has any other information about the Nursery and NICU,please let me know, I need all i can get, it'll be much appreiciated. :)

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I started out in Labor and Delivery and Mother/Baby. I do believe it gives you some good background information, but I really don't think it's a necessity if you know your goal is NICU. Mother/Baby and NICU are two different worlds. In my case I worked Labor and Delivery for several years before I ever considered NICU and when I got into NICU I felt like I needed to go back to nursing school! I wish I had done more med/ surg earlier in my career. Although, regardless of what background you come from NICU is a world of it's own for the most part. In nursing school I think I spent all of two days in the NICU. When I began working in NICU I was amazed at all the different syndromes and disorders I was encountering that I had never heard of! I guess one suggestion would be to find a nursing program that will give you the option to spend a good part of a semester working in an area you'd like to specialize in. Also, if you know that in the end NICU is where you want to work, take a nurse intern job in a NICU while you are in nursing school. Who knows, maybe then you will decide that having the mother/baby experience first is not so important.

Good luck to you!

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I started out in Labor and Delivery and Mother/Baby. I do believe it gives you some good background information, but I really don't think it's a necessity if you know your goal is NICU. Mother/Baby and NICU are two different worlds. In my case I worked Labor and Delivery for several years before I ever considered NICU and when I got into NICU I felt like I needed to go back to nursing school! I wish I had done more med/ surg earlier in my career. Although, regardless of what background you come from NICU is a world of it's own for the most part. In nursing school I think I spent all of two days in the NICU. When I began working in NICU I was amazed at all the different syndromes and disorders I was encountering that I had never heard of! I guess one suggestion would be to find a nursing program that will give you the option to spend a good part of a semester working in an area you'd like to specialize in. Also, if you know that in the end NICU is where you want to work, take a nurse intern job in a NICU while you are in nursing school. Who knows, maybe then you will decide that having the mother/baby experience first is not so important.

Good luck to you!

Hello,Thank You for all the information,Its much appreiciated.I will deffinetly take the advice. :)

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hey everyone,its me again. all the informaton everyone gave me is very helpful, but i would like to learn more about nicu nursing. as i said, after i graduate i want to get into the nursing career(nicu). if anyone eles has any info on the newborn nursery,nicu, please let me know. im very interested in this. much apprieciated-

-thanks to everyone in advance:)

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What was your background before you got into Labor and Delivery? That's my ultimate goal and I'm finishing my bachelor's right now in a field other than nursing, so I plan on getting associate's in nursing in the next two years and getting my RN license. Is that enough to find a Labor and Delivery job or would I need more experience? If more experience is needed, what would you recommend I do? Thanks so much in advance!! :)

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I hired into the Mother/Baby unit after I graduated nursing school. We (the RNs) worked in teams of 2. One team would work in the nursery, and the other teams were assigned out on the floor to the moms (and those babies rooming-in.) The schedule varied from day to day, but each RN averaged working in nursery one day a month. Nobody was allowed to work in there ALL the time.

Anyway, a little over a year later, there came to be an opening in NICU (which is what I wanted all along) - I love it, and I think the experience of taking care of healthy babies (and their moms) was good background for what I do now.

Just keep in mind that, contrary to popular opinion in the general population, Mom/baby nurses and NICU nurses do not (I repeat, DO NOT!!!!) sit around all day cuddling and playing with babies. We work our butts off!!!!! And in NICU, you will see some very tough stuff to deal with.

Not trying to scare you off!!! Just want you to know what you are in for!!! I love NICU and would never do anything else!!! If you are determined and your heart is set on it, go for it!!!! Good luck and keep us posted!!!

I could agree with you more!! It's really helpful to find out what is normal before you work in the abnormal realm of things. I would like to do the same thing, work in L&D/Mother/Baby and then move on to NICU after I get some experience working with well babies.

And I can't emphasize what NICU_RN said enough, nurses who work in the nursery do NOT sit around all day cuddling and feeding new babies. In our hospital, that job goes to the volunteers (ME! for the moment :) ). They work so hard, like every other nurse does.

Talk to your HS counselor and tell him/her what you've told us you'd like to do. They are in the business of advising young people in HS, so you might want to consider that your first stop. Take heavy science courses (all the biology and chemistry you can get) along with maths. You have the advantage over those who are starting nursing later in life in that you have this information fresh in your mind.

Find out through your HS counselor if they have someone who you could "shadow" for a day in the nursery. Some schools have this type of arrangement, especially with the nursing shortage to encourage young students to go into nursing.

Good luck and study hard!

Katherine

Happy Birthday to me!

March 12

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:balloons:

:biggringi happy birthday, babyrntobe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! many happy returns! :balloons:

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