What is a maternity nurse?
A maternity nurse is an experienced infant care provider who usually lives with a family and provides 24 hour on-call service after the birth of a baby. A maternity nurse usually works for five or six days per week, though individual arrangements may also be made by a private family and their maternity nurse. In some cases maternity nurses may consider themselves day nurses, in which case they would only be available to assist a family during the day, and others consider themselves night nurses and would work mostly at nights. Despite the name a maternity nurse is not necessarily a State Registered Nurse, midwife or health visitor though many maternity nurses have had one of these past careers.
A Maternity Nurse is a person who will care for your baby and assist you with establishing a routine within the home environment and teach / assist you with mother-care of the new born. This is usually the period after you have left the hospital – for one week or for any number of weeks up to three months depending on your needs. Some Maternity Nurses have a medical background and bring their expertise with them. This may include Midwives, RGN’s etc. Many Maternity Nurses are experienced Nannies who after years of experience have done Maternity Nurse Training and are able to work as Maternity Nurses , they bring with them their valuable experience. All Maternity Nurses should have a valid Paediatric First Aid Certificate . A Maternity Nurse is on duty/available 24hrs a day for 5 or 6 days a week. (The Maternity Nurse will need to have a few hours sleep/rest especially if she has had to be up during the night to care for the baby). There are generally two types of Maternity Nurse care,
