Week 26 ~ Hire Nurse/Doula

As soon as you are sure that you will be using a baby nurse or post-delivery doula, start doing your research. A good nurse or doula can book up months in advance so you will want to have yours secured early on. If you do not know the difference between the two here are the key points:

Baby Nurse – A Baby Nurse is an experienced trained infant/newborn specialist who comes into your home in the first weeks of an infant’s life to assist the new parents with the day-to-day care of their new baby. Baby Nurse’s generally work 24-hour days, meaning, they are on-call at all times to care for the baby. A baby nurse educates new parents on caring for their infant, assists in establishing a routine (eating/sleeping/wake schedule) for the baby and provides lactation consulting to breastfeeding mothers.

Baby Nurses provide expertise in all aspects of newborn care and parental education and support. Extensively trained and experienced, a good baby nurse helps nurture and care for your baby while providing guidance and education for you. The primary role of a Baby Nurse is to provide assistance during the post-delivery recovery period and help you transition your baby into a regular schedule.

Baby Nurses who work night shifts typically sleep in the baby’s room and manage their care while you sleep restfully in bed. When the baby wakes up, the baby nurse feeds by bottle or brings the baby to you for nursing. After feeding, the baby is burped and changed before being settled back to sleep. A daytime Baby Nurse provides similar care and also strives to create a nurturing, stimulating environment for your baby during waking hours. Baby nurses are generally not responsible for household duties unrelated to the new baby or for the care of other children in the household.

Postpartum Doula – A Postpartum Doula’s focus is in helping the new mother after the birth of the baby. Each family’s needs are different, so the services provided by your Postpartum Doula will vary to accommodate your family.

The Postpartum Doula’s services are tailored to help the new mother rest as much as possible so that she recovers from the birth in the fastest amount of time possible. The Postpartum Doula is a “Mother’s Helper”. While the Postpartum Doula is very knowledgeable about newborn care, the scope of her role is NOT to take over the care of the newborn, as this would interfere with the mother and baby getting to know each other and bond.

A Postpartum Doula provides loving support, so that the new mother feels rested, well-nourished and with her household in good order so that she can focus her energy on her new baby. Some of her roles include:

• Cooking
• Light household cleaning
• Light laundry
• Grocery shopping
• Running errands as deemed important by the new mom
• Expert breastfeeding advice
• Expert general newborn care (only as requested by new mother so as not to interfere with mother/baby bonding)
• Care of any siblings (if applicable) so that the new mother can focus on baby as needed

Interviewing

Many people get their doula or baby nurse as a recommendation from family or friends who have already used them. In my opinion, this is the best way to get one because they already come with a recommendation from someone you know and trust. If you do not know of anyone that has used one, there are many agencies that specialize in either doula or baby nurse placement. A good doula or baby nurse will have a full schedule, months in advance, so it is important to remember to secure your doula or nurse as soon as you know that you are going to be using one. Before calling, it is important to sort out your expectations and write them down along with any questions regarding scheduling, feeding, etc philosophies that the doula or nurse may have. If you get these issues squared away before hand you will be far more likely to have a good experience and with no surprises. It is also important to let them know how long you intend to employ them and ask how much they charge per day.