The title 'baby nurse' typically refers to a healthcare worker who specializes in the in-home care of infants from one day old to one year old. However, not all 'baby nurses' possess nursing education or licensure. In fact, this industry is awash with people who bring other types of training to the table.
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In the burgeoning industry of private home-based baby care, 'baby nurse' is a title that refers to a trained individual who specializes in the care of infants from one day old up to one year old. A number of experienced registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) work as baby nurses. In fact, the vast world wide web is host to multiple websites that advertise the services of licensed nurses with seemingly entrepreneurial spirits and presupposed business saavy who operate their own baby care businesses.
Some parents feel overburdened with maddening responsibilities once a newborn comes home for the very first time. Resourceful baby nurses can relieve a great deal of the burden on the parents by providing care for the newborn as soon as he / she arrives home from the hospital or birthing center. The baby nurse assists the parents with tasks such as feeding, burping, bathing, dressing, changing diapers, umbilical cord care, circumcision site care, positioning, devising sleep habits, and responding to the infant's cries. Moreover, if the mother chooses to breast-feed, the baby nurse can provide valuable education on this topic and assist with the pumping of breast milk.
Many baby nurses spend the night in the infant's nursery for eight or twelve hour shifts and have short term contracts of up to 12 weeks, whereas a select few get to live in the household until the child reaches the first birthday. Some baby nurses specialize in the care of multiple births (twins, triplets, quadruplets, etc.), while others have developed their own unique niches in the marketplace by providing care for medically fragile premature infants and other neonates with health problems that require constant intervention.
Conversely, one might be surprised to learn that many people in the industry who use the title of 'baby nurse' do not possess any nursing education or professional licensure whatsoever. In fact, a number of these in-home workers are actually non-medical persons such as newborn care specialists, nannies, au pairs, and postpartum doulas. According to the Newborn Care Specialist Association, a newborn care specialist (NCS) "provides unique expertise in all aspects of newborn care, parental education and support."
The majority of parents will never hire a baby nurse because their services are usually too costly for middle-income and lower-income earners to comfortably afford. Baby nurses are more common among the urban upper middle class and wealthy, especially in major metropolitan areas such as New York City. According to nanniesandmore.com, the average pay rate for a baby nurse is anywhere from $275 to $500+ for each 24 hour period. A search of other websites that advertise baby nursing services unearths pay rates that range from $18 to $35 per hour.
Baby nurses are definitely an invaluable resource to parents and newborns. However, one can almost be certain that the obstetrician would gripe if the PA called herself a doctor. One can bet that the lawyer would complain if the paralegal referred to himself as a lawyer. Likewise, those of us who are licensed nurses should be more vocal about the growing subset of people who use our title without the corresponding education, training or licensure. After all, 'nurse' is a protected title in several states.
