New Mother/Baby Nurse ... any advice?

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Hi everyone ..

I am a new grad and got a job in october as a mother/baby nurse. we rotate between the newborn nursery and the postpartum floor. In the nursery we take care of new admits, boarder babies, and any other babies that need bili lights and such. On the floor we have couplets..the moms that choose to room in with their new little ones. I am still on orientation but will be going to nights on my own this week.I feel more comfortable in the nursery because i have had more time there. i love my job and am so excited to have been blessed with such a great job. I worry at night when i get home that i will overlook something on a newborn and make a mistake. my preceptor is awesome..very knowledgeable and is a great teacher. i feel confident at work and am learning as much as i can. To everyone who is experienced, are there any tips you can give me? Books i can read to increase my knowledge and help my pts even more? I am going to ask to follow a lactation specialist because the joy i see on a moms face when she is able to breastfeed is sooo rewarding.... what can i do to help my new moms ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks! JJaye

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Ask, ask, ask and ask some more. If you're not sure, ask. If you're curious, ask. If you see someone doing something you've never done before, ask if you can help/watch. The more you ask, the less likely you are to make a mistake and the faster you'll learn!!

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thanks for the reply... thats what i have been oing..and thankfully everyone has been great... i have heard nurses eat their young...but this unit i am on has the best bunch of people around!!

thanks again!

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Specializes in L and D.

Take the WIC course on breastfeeding if it's available. Learn to trust your gut instincts. Learn what is normal so you can spot abnormal quickly. Realize that you most likely will miss something at some point but mistakes are how we learn. As long as your patients are breathing, responsive, pain in control and the vitals are stable then you have time. Case in point: when I first started couplet care I got report on a mom and baby which were supposedly happy and healthy. Went in to do my assessment. I always do hr, rr, temp in that order. Well as soon as I seen baby I knew he was breathing too fast and his color was off. I grabbed him and headed to obs. Rr in the 70-80s, temp 96.8 rectally. Rr was my first sign. Got the baby on the warmer and took a BG. 36. Called pedi. Got all kinds of labs and took to the nursery. Never finished my head to toe. Came in the next day and was told I missed his broken collar bone. So?! He's alive! Lol. Yes I felt bad I missed it, but it wasn't going to kill or misfigure him. There really was no harm.

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Specializes in L&D, OR, postpartum, pedi, OBGYN clinic.

Relax! This unit is fun, most L&D nurses dread going to MB but I like it too :) Enjoy your patients, have fun teaching the men how to change diapers, pain meds should never be considered PRN, offer them round the clock, try to avoid waking a sleeping mom or baby for an assessment unless really needed just because she is next on your list, it can wait an hour, position the O2 sat monitor on C/S moms so you can see it by the door, if their sats are 100% awesome, I had a nurse that would wake them up to count RR at 4 am, not all babies are natural breast feeders or their mommies don't have size appropriate nipples, that is what the lactation nurses are for!, these are patients that will have to go home on their own in 24-48 hours, treat them as such, meaning, don't change the baby for them, show them, don't console a screaming baby, show them how to do it, don't always help the baby to the breast, she needs to be able to do it on her own. This is a unit where discharge planning starts the moment she is on the unit, don't wait til the end to check off your discharge list! :)

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