Should I Hire a Night Nurse? Newborn Care Advice From British American Newborn Care

Should I Hire a Night Nurse?

British American Newborn Care is a specialized department of British American Household Staffing focused on newborn and infant care.

We make placements that are likely to endure. We have experience across the spectrum of newborn care staff positions, from Newborn Care Specialists to Baby Nurses and Nannies. We start from the position that each newborn care staffing need is unique, necessitating individual understanding. The breadth and experience of our pool of candidates makes us confident that we can service households of all sizes. 

Learn more about British American Newborn Care or contact a local office to hire newborn care.


Should I Hire a Night Nurse? Newborn Care Advice

By Anita Rogers, British American Newborn Care

You have a baby on the way. You and your family are excited, exhilarated, over-the-moon. Most new mums and dads start organizing everything in preparation for the birth as soon as the pregnancy test is positive. The questions you ask yourselves are endless: What will the baby be like? Are we ready? Should we move? Should our parents or family come and stay with us for the first few months? Can I handle my family living with us for the first few months? Will I be able to leave the baby and exercise? Should I study more about sleep training? What about breastfeeding? Should I pump? What if I can't?

What many parents don't know is how much a night nurse or newborn care specialist (often called a baby nurse) can help your new baby as well as the parent or parents. A good night nurse or baby nurse will make sure you get enough sleep. Even more importantly, the night nurse or baby nurse will ensure the baby is on a schedule, feeds properly, regularly and correctly, helps the baby stay calm, reduces anxiety in the parents, which subsequently reduces anxiety in the newborn. An excellent baby nurse or newborn care specialist will understand how to make sure the baby rests but feeds enough to put on weight. They teach the parents how to structure their baby's days and nights, resulting in a baby who enjoys the benefits of a sleep routine from very early on, which in return, will help them as a young-adults with sleep, structure and routine, invaluable for school age children, pre-teens, teens and later, adults. The baby nurse or newborn care specialist will keep your baby safe and teach you everything they know, giving you peace-of-mind when caring for your baby. The cherry on the top is that you, as parents, are able to be well-rested and enjoy the development of your baby without being sleep-deprived, anxious and exhausted.

There are several schedules and categories of newborn care specialists, sometimes referred to as "baby nurses", “night nurses” or "maternity nurses":

Night nurse: a newborn care specialist or baby nurse who works 12-14 hours overnight only

24/5, night and day nurse: a newborn care specialist or baby nurse who works throughout the night and day, takes a four hour break each day to rest and two days at home each week.

24/7, night and day nurse: a newborn care specialist or baby nurse who works throughout the night and day and takes a four hour break each day to rest. They usually go home for one day every two weeks to sleep enough to return in good form.

Almost all newborn care specialists or baby nurses are hired for a minimum of three months. The reason for this is sleep training, which is done using the light, not with feeding schedules, cannot be attempted until the baby is double the birthweight, according to the American School of Pediatrics. A baby is considered a newborn up until the baby is two and a half months old. Only when the baby reaches their correct weight can a newborn care specialist or baby nurse no longer feed the baby on demand and allow the baby to sleep through the night. The newborn care specialist or baby nurse understands infant whimpers and cries and they know when to allow the infant to self-sooth or when to rub the baby's back or when to actually pick the baby up, which means sleep-interruption. Most clients who work through British American keep their newborn care specialists or baby nurses for six to eight months, sometimes longer. 

British American Newborn Care is known for only representing a select few of the best in the industry. Some are British but legal to work in the USA, many are educated in the USA and some do not hold degrees but have a resume, experience and references to match the more educated newborn care specialists or baby nurses on British American's roster. All of our newborn care specialists or baby nurses are the most sought after in the industry and have numerous excellent references from our previous clients. All of our candidates are fully background checked, in all US states and internationally (when they have lived abroad), have had their SSN researched, their driving checked and credit checks are conducted in states we are legally allowed to do so. 

If you are a new parent, expecting parent or parents-to-be again, do not hesitate to reach out to our educated childcare specialists at British American. We have childcare specialists in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. They all hold degrees in Childhood Education, have extensive nanny experience with newborns and understand the intricacies of newborn care development. We are newborn care and childhood development experts. We understand how to choose the highest quality and how to find the best newborn care specialist for new and expecting parents.


West Coast Night Nurses

If you would like to speak to one of our in-house childcare specialists, contact your local office:

Our Hollywood office serves all of Los Angeles, including Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Santa Barbara and Montecito. Contact our Los Angeles office to find a LA night nanny.

Our San Francisco office serves the California Bay Area including San Francisco, Presidio Heights, Nob Hill, Noe Valley, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Woodside, Atherton and Mountain View. Contact our San Francisco office to find a Bay Area night nanny.