So over it!!

Published

One of my serious pet peeves is when household staffing agencies call their newborn nannies 'baby nurses.' Apparently, this is a pretty common phenomenon, which is abhorrent to me.

In any event, I came across a website for one of those agencies a few days ago and saw that not only were they advertising 'Baby Nurses,' but for each nanny they had a description like, "Amanda has been a baby nurse for 15 years!" I'd had it. I wrote the agency to explain that not only is this offensive, but also illegal, and I reported the company to its respective state Boards of Nursing. In my email, I even cited the specific laws they were breaking by using the term nurse, which is protected.

Title "Nurse" Protection

The lady got back to me and had the nerve to say that I needed to 'educate myself' about the history of household staffing, and that this was an accepted term. (Seriously??) I replied that maybe she needed to educate herself about the fact that her field is moving away from calling nannies 'baby nurses' because (spoiler alert), various Boards of Nursing have taken legal action against them. Their professional body explicitly advises that they not call their staff nurses because it's illegal.

Baby Nurse vs. Newborn Care Specialist - International Nanny Association

I like to think that I'm a fairly reasonable, understanding person, but this just drives me up the wall! :sniff:

Rant over. Thanks for playing.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatrics, Wound Care.

May just be an offshoot or continuation of the "wet nurse". I'm pretty sure these women aren't usually breastfeeding, though.

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May just be an offshoot or continuation of the "wet nurse". I'm pretty sure these women aren't usually breastfeeding, though.

Lol, I mentioned that in my email.

On an unrelated note, I did once have a dad in the NICU who erroneously thought that NICU nurses are where donor breastmilk comes from. He literally told us that was, "great farm-to-table service." I had to explain that I'm not that kind of nurse. :rolleyes:

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
I wrote the agency to explain that not only is this offensive, but also illegal, and I reported the company to its respective state Boards of Nursing.

You know, adventure_rn, just the other day I overheard Illinois discussing this very topic with Indiana!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27777[/ATTACH]

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
I did once have a dad in the NICU who erroneously thought that NICU nurses are where donor breastmilk comes from. He literally told us that was, "great farm-to-table service."

The same sort of concept Elvis had about marriage:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27778[/ATTACH]

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
One of my serious pet peeves is when household staffing agencies call their newborn nannies 'baby nurses.' Apparently, this is a pretty common phenomenon, which is abhorrent to me.

In any event, I came across a website for one of those agencies a few days ago and saw that not only were they advertising 'Baby Nurses,' but for each nanny they had a description like, "Amanda has been a baby nurse for 15 years!" I'd had it. I wrote the agency to explain that not only is this offensive, but also illegal, and I reported the company to its respective state Boards of Nursing. In my email, I even cited the specific laws they were breaking by using the term nurse, which is protected.

Title "Nurse" Protection

The lady got back to me and had the nerve to say that I needed to 'educate myself' about the history of household staffing, and that this was an accepted term. (Seriously??) I replied that maybe she needed to educate herself about the fact that her field is moving away from calling nannies 'baby nurses' because (spoiler alert), various Boards of Nursing have taken legal action against them. Their professional body explicitly advises that they not call their staff nurses because it's illegal.

Baby Nurse vs. Newborn Care Specialist - International Nanny Association

I like to think that I'm a fairly reasonable, understanding person, but this just drives me up the wall! :sniff:

Rant over. Thanks for playing.

I remember my Great Aunt Nellie, who was quite elderly when I was born, being called a "baby nurse". I don't believe she had a nursing license, but she wasn't a nanny as we know it today. She wore a white uniform, but only worked until such time as the baby got the message that feeding time is every 4 hours on the dot. (or she gave up trying)

The last time I heard the term was 1961, however.

Other than the fact she gave you attitude, her belief that terminology once given, never changes is ridiculous. I can think of many terms formerly used to describe household staffing that would certainly be offensive in the context of the present day.

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On an unrelated note, I did once have a dad in the NICU who erroneously thought that NICU nurses are where donor breastmilk comes from. He literally told us that was, "great farm-to-table service." I had to explain that I'm not that kind of nurse. :rolleyes:

I may have gotten fired that day.

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Specializes in NICU.
On an unrelated note, I did once have a dad in the NICU who erroneously thought that NICU nurses are where donor breastmilk comes from. He literally told us that was, "great farm-to-table service." I had to explain that I'm not that kind of nurse. :rolleyes:

:wtf:

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

A long time ago I worked per diem for a company that offered that service in Denver, but you had to actually be a NURSE to work for them. It was basically really expensive overnight daycare for newborns so the parents could sleep.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.

Putting aside the issue of people putting in hard work to earn an actual nursing license, these agencies are being quite deceptive to parents by implying that a licensed professional is caring for their children. I'm guessing that is somewhere in the agencies' small print, but I'm also guessing that some (many?) parents don't realize that they aren't paying for an actual nurse.

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Specializes in OB.

"Baby nurses" are super common in NYC and often make as much or more than RNs, but they essentially work 24/7 for weeks/months at a time providing care to a newborn so that their wealthy parents can sleep through the night every night. Most that I came across were immigrants who were actual nurses in their home country and worked contracts similar to travel nurses. I don't think they're regulated very stringently at all, I'm not surprised you came across an agency employee who was shifty.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
You know, adventure_rn, just the other day I overheard Illinois discussing this very topic with Indiana!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27777[/ATTACH]

Sadly, we've been changing our time for years in Indiana now :sorry:

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