Baby nurses?!?!?!?

allnurses Guide · Jun 10, 2013

When I was a child I remember my great-aunt Nellie would move in with any of our relatives and was always called a "baby nurse". I think she worked for other families as well, though. She always wore a white dress. I don't believe she had a license, but she was there to make sure that child was fed every four hours on the dot and other such notions popular in the day. The idea was that by the time, she left mom knew how to sterilize bottles, properly burp the baby and ensure the baby was aware he or she was to sleep through the night (haha). It was the "no nonsense" era of child-rearing.

What I am hearing described is something different altogether. Our consciousness of the importance and value of the title of nurse has been raised. and although I don't begrudge Aunt Nellie her title one bit, it should be retired and called something else now.

DoGoodThenGo · Jun 10, 2013

When I was a child I remember my great-aunt Nellie would move in with any of our relatives and was always called a "baby nurse". I think she worked for other families as well, though. She always wore a white dress. I don't believe she had a license, but she was there to make sure that child was fed every four hours on the dot and other such notions popular in the day. The idea was that by the time, she left mom knew how to sterilize bottles, properly burp the baby and ensure the baby was aware he or she was to sleep through the night (haha). It was the "no nonsense" era of child-rearing.
What I am hearing described is something different altogether. Our consciousness of the importance and value of the title of nurse has been raised. and although I don't begrudge Aunt Nellie her title one bit, it should be retired and called something else now.

Nurse, nursemaid and so forth are titles long given to ranks of servants that cared for infants and or young children. The use predates "trained" nurses and certainly the modern one in connection with licensed professionals.

At it's most basic meaning nurse means among other things to provide care. Most state BONs realize that and long as one restricts one's "nursing" to within one's own family no one has any problems. However hiring yourself out as a "nurse" OTHO is another matter.

DoGoodThenGo · Jun 10, 2013

When I was a child I remember my great-aunt Nellie would move in with any of our relatives and was always called a "baby nurse". I think she worked for other families as well, though. She always wore a white dress. I don't believe she had a license, but she was there to make sure that child was fed every four hours on the dot and other such notions popular in the day. The idea was that by the time, she left mom knew how to sterilize bottles, properly burp the baby and ensure the baby was aware he or she was to sleep through the night (haha). It was the "no nonsense" era of child-rearing.
What I am hearing described is something different altogether. Our consciousness of the importance and value of the title of nurse has been raised. and although I don't begrudge Aunt Nellie her title one bit, it should be retired and called something else now.

Oh the joys of schedule feeding! *LOL* Thought Dr. Spock put an end to all that!

allnurses Guide · Jun 10, 2013

Oh the joys of schedule feeding! *LOL* Thought Dr. Spock put an end to all that!

I went in another direction. . .perhaps as a result of that I buried my nose in all sorts of alternative parenting books as I carried my babies in slings and nursed on demand . . .I think they call that a "crunchy" (ie granola eating) mama nowadays...

DoGoodThenGo · Jun 10, 2013

I went in another direction. . .perhaps as a result of that I buried my nose in all sorts of alternative parenting books as I carried my babies in slings and nursed on demand . . .I think they call that a "crunchy" (ie granola eating) mama nowadays...

One thing that always bothered me was that bit about not always rushing to pick up baby when he or she is crying. Worse if it was at night to let them cry themselves to sleep or some such. The idea being once baby learned no one was going to arrive it would settle down and get on. Rubbish!

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jun 10, 2013

When was this done? I can't imagine changes will be made in a week.

More like months...it was several months back, actually. This is OLD news, and it resurfaces every so often as people "discover" it for the first time. Myself included, when I "discovered" it. Now, I watch everyone get in a twist over the "protected" title, and the regulating agency that would do something about it....doesn't.

monkeybug · Jun 10, 2013

There must be precious little breastfeeding going on in these homes if the moms aren't getting up in the middle of the night at all.

klone, MSN, RN · Jun 10, 2013

I can only speak for myself and the company I work for, but most of our clients are breastfeeding, at least in the first few months. The baby nurse brings the infant in to the mother when it's ready for a feed, then when the baby is done eating, we take the baby back out to the nursery. So the mom doesn't have to get up out of bed, but she is still woken up at feeding time.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jun 10, 2013

.....reconsidered. Back to previously-scheduled programming.

uRNmyway, ASN, RN · Jun 10, 2013

Oh the joys of schedule feeding! *LOL* Thought Dr. Spock put an end to all that!

You'd think so huh? The wackos where I had my daughter kept telling me I should be nursing her q2h (uh, what? And when the heck do I sleep?). I kept telling them I was going to nurse on demand, but not to worry, I would wake her if she hadn't nursed in 4 hours. I eventually gave up arguing and just TOLD them I was feeding her q2, just so they would leave me alone. Smh...

Asystole RN · Jun 10, 2013

How is this news? Hasn't this been going on for centuries?

allnurses Guide · Jun 10, 2013

I can't speak for the OP but I think the issue of the title with the word nurse in it gives these stories more significance due to heightened awareness of the protection of the title in recent years.