Selecting a maternity nurse

What is a maternity nurse?

A maternity nurse is an experienced nanny or midwife who specialises in working with newborn babies. Her role is to help establish routines for feeding and sleeping, to care for the baby when the mother needs time to rest and recover from the birth, and to ease the new parents and other family members into life with their new baby.

As a maternity nurse is booked in advance of the birth, she might also offer advice on forward planning, ahead of the birth.

A maternity nurse usually lives in with the family for at least a fortnight and sometimes up to three months after the birth of the baby and is on hand 24 hours a day to help with night feeds as well as day care. (A maternity nurse will usually have one day off each week but this may vary depending on your own arrangements.)

Finding a maternity nurse

Some agencies also have the facility for maternity nurses to be booked for short periods, with less notice. But generally if you want to book a good maternity nurse, you are advised to make an arrangement five to six months in advance of the due date.