First work experience in postpartum/mother/baby.

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Greetings,

As a new graduate, I have the opportunity to work in a mother/baby unit (for my first job). Are there nurses out there that have started in this area and are still in it? Should I also be crossed trained in L&D? What are your thoughts about starting in this area? I think it would be a good fit for my personality.

I think this area would offer great opportunities for patient/nurse interaction...specifically teaching.

Thanks, Fizz

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Congratulations on your new job! It sounds like it would be a great opportunity and one of the areas that I'm looking into. I don't know if you should be cross-trained, but I would probably ask to be.

Hopefully more will experienced nurses will answer in more detail. Congratulations again!

Kris

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Specializes in Medical/Surgical/Maternal and Child.
Greetings,

As a new graduate, I have the opportunity to work in a mother/baby unit (for my first job). Are there nurses out there that have started in this area and are still in it? Should I also be crossed trained in L&D? What are your thoughts about starting in this area? I think it would be a good fit for my personality.

I think this area would offer great opportunities for patient/nurse interaction...specifically teaching.

Thanks, Fizz

Oh you lucky person. I started out in med/surg nursing to get my feet wet then went on to work in OB and I loved it. I thought I had died and gone to heaven after med/surg. You will love the mother/baby unit and I would really encourage you to cross train in L/D and the Well Baby Nursery. The more experience you can have in Maternal Child Nursing the better. I wish you all the luck in the world. You will love working in that unit. I can't do bedside nursing anymore because my hip and my knee rebel if I'm on my feet alot but I truly loved working with the new moms and their babies and yes there is a great deal of potential for patient/nurse interaction and teaching. :) :) :)

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Most of the job is patient teaching when the Mum and baby are healthy. The length of stay is so short now and most of the women I cared for had no prenatal classes or came from small towns that had no prenatal classes.

But just care for them the way you'd like someone to care for you or a family member and remember that no information however trivial it is to you may be useful to a first time Mum.

Usually it the "how soon can I have sex again" question is one that they want answered but are afraid to go near. We were encouraged to bring up family planning and how breast feeding in not a reliable form of contraception and the questions keep coming from Mum and its amazing how much info you can give out in a conversation without it seeming like "teaching".

Enjoy it. You don't lift many patients over 9lbs. and there are always enough hands to transfer post op Mums from the stretcher to the bed.

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i am a new grad currently working in couplet care. i love it. i am not being cross trained for L/D, but i have no desire to work L/D. i would like to be cross trained eventually for well baby nursery though.

i work 2 nights a week and it is working out really well. we get gyne patient's occasionally as well as post gyne surgery patients, so we get some med/surg in there. not like postpartum women don't have their own set of problems as well as med/surg stuff. i am really enjoying it. i love the moms and the babes and it is very challenging. there is rarely a night i am not busy all night.

there is a lot of teaching and i love that. new moms and 2nd, 3rd, etc time moms. things constantly change and they often forget what it was like when their other's were born.

i say go for it! good luck.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I say do plan/choose to crosstrain if at all possible. I do L and D, couplet care , level 2 nursery and GYN surgical nursing, all on my unit.....(we have 10 LDRP's and another 10 post-op beds), as well as a level-2 nursery. I can honestly say I am never bored and not sorry I know all these areas. But start w/mother-baby first. Getting your feet wet there before labor is wise.

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Thanks for the advice. It's so hard making a decision when one is fresh out of school. So many people are pushing med surg since you really don't do IVs along with many other procedures in Mother/Baby. In my opinion, there are many aspects to nursing and not everyone will HAVE to do med-surg. I know another student who is working with a plastic surgeon in a clinic.

My gut tells me either mother/baby of peds. We'll see.

Fizz

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Greetings,

As a new graduate, I have the opportunity to work in a mother/baby unit (for my first job). Are there nurses out there that have started in this area and are still in it? Should I also be crossed trained in L&D? What are your thoughts about starting in this area? I think it would be a good fit for my personality.

I think this area would offer great opportunities for patient/nurse interaction...specifically teaching.

Thanks, Fizz

Get at least a good year under your belt in MB before crosstraining to L&D. there is much to learn and all that you pick up in MB will help you when you go to L&D.

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I would say cross-train! I work in a small rural hospital where we do it all. There's nothing like the continuum of care. We have two RN's for every delivery, but usually only one on for Post-partum depending how crazy it is.

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I would say cross-train! I work in a small rural hospital where we do it all. There's nothing like the continuum of care. We have two RN's for every delivery, but usually only one on for Post-partum depending how crazy it is.[/quote

I know I have already posted here but had some extra thoughts. Crosstrain by all means AFTER you have had a good year or so in mother baby. Get good and comfortable BEFORE you take on L&D. Maybe during that time, you can get your NRP done. YOU need to ahve that certification before you work L&D in most places. Get as much nursery experience as you can, also, because L&D is about babies as well. Then, after you are feeling pretty confident, take the leap into L&D. Remember, L&D is a critical care area and you need to be able to really concentrate on learnig and gaining a whole boatload of new skills. You need to take many courses in fetal monitoring (not to mention review courses in it as well. It takes well over a year to even begin to feel comfortable in L&D. Not to mention that the chance for lawsuits is huge.

Don't take on too much at once. Give yourself the chance to learn slowly so you can savor it all! Good luck. It's a wonderful field!

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