What kind of nurse takes care of the newborn babies?

[bragerc2020]

What kind of nurse, takes care of the new born babies? Like feeding them and all the that stuff, hands on stuff.

[Sour Lemon]

Usually, their mothers and fathers. When I had my baby, he stayed right next to me in my room. There are "newborn nursery" positions, but most newborns aren't there the majority of the time. There is also "postpartum" nursing which involves "couplet care" for babies and their mothers ...and of course "special care nursery" for babies who need a little bit more care and "NICU" for very ill or premature babies.

[loriangel14, RN]

Where I work the moms do generally.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

Giving birth is normally a very natural occurrence. Most newborn babies are taken care of by their parents, no medical/nursing intervention needed.

[guest769224]

What kind of nurse, takes care of the new born babies? Like feeding them and all the that stuff, hands on stuff.

Newborn intensive care unit nurses. They take care of very sick babies, and some that are nearly healthy but need a little extra TLC, and anything in between.

[NICUismylife, ADN, BSN, RN]

Ditto the others. Most hospitals have healthy newborns "room-in" with their mothers, who do all the feeding & care. There is teaching involved: breastfeeding assistance, showing mom how to swaddle, change diapers, what to expect in the early days, SIDS prevention, corificeat safety, etc. They're usually in L&D for a couple of hours and then transferred to family care/postpartum for the remainder of the stay.

Preemies and full-term babes with health issues go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), but it's not all snuggling and feeding babies in there.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Moved to the OB Nursing forum.

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

Preemies and full-term babes with health issues go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), but it's not all snuggling and feeding babies in there.

But there's a lot of it! I usually snuggle with at least one patient each shift.

(How many of y'all can say that?)

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

I second what others have said.

If your goal is to perform ADLs on babies (feeding, diapering, etc.) then maybe look into a Level 2 Special Care Nursery (higher acuity than Level 1 Mother-Baby/Postpartum, but lower acuity than a Level 3 or Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Level 2 kids are generally stable, but just need a bit of extra help learning to breathe, eat, or keep their blood sugar up. That said, in many Level 2 nurseries, parents are able to stay at the bedside and perform those cares if they want to like they do on Mother-Baby/Postpartum.

Even in a Level 2 nursery you won't just be feeding/holding/cuddling. Your primary tasks will be assessments, cardiorespiratory monitoring, med admin, procedures, etc.; if you happen to have some downtime and a baby is cranky, you can step in and cuddle. You'll be responsible for starting IVs, drawing labs, and performing resuscitations if one of your babies decides to give up at life (once stablized, they'd go to the NICU). In that sense, I think Level 2 Special Care Nurseries can be more stressful than Level 3 NICUs. Codes/resuscitations in Level 2 are rare, but when they happen Level 2 nurses may feel unprepared since they hardly ever do them.

[LADYBRN2BE]

I agree most nurses who take care of babies are typically in the NICU, most hospitals are now couplet care. However many hospitals have what you call TCN positions one of which I hold and we are at every delivery we "catch" the baby and take care of the baby during transition period until baby is moved from labor to the floor. This includes lots of teaching and feeding in certain situations if you are not a designated breast feeding hospital. You are responsible for any and everything baby until you endorse baby to the postpartum nurse.

[LLLovely, BSN, RN]

In my experience, it really depends upon the hospital's model of care. I have seen LPNs who take care of infants immediately upon delivery, even assigning APGARs. I have seen L&D RNs taking turns "catching" other nurses' babies for them and caring for them while the mom is recovering. I have seen post-partum nurses assigned to L&D to do transition care of infants. I have seen L&D nurses take care of their own babies until the couplet is ready to move. In most every case, this initial care is passed on to a post-partum nurse within a couple of hours, or the primary LDRP nurse once the mother is recovered. But as others have mentioned, parents should and do care for the infant's basic needs, and call for assistance when they need it. Unless the baby is in a higher level of care, the nurse should always encourage the parents to do the infant care as part of their discharge education.