Having a baby is not an easy task. In the first few months of the newborn’s arrival, there will be a lot to do. The parents of the baby will lose much sleep, and their entire lives will be turned upside down. What many families do is look to the assistance of a newborn care specialist to help them give the baby the attention and care that they deserve.
Essentially, the person that is entrusted with this job will be a critical part of life for the baby and the family as the newborn journey begins to unfold. It takes a special kind of person to be a newborn care specialist. Taking care of newborn babies is not for the faint of heart.
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What Does a Newborn Care Specialist Do?
In most cases, the parents of a newborn baby will choose to hire a specialist long before the baby is born. The parents may choose to find their baby nurse through a professional nanny agency, or they may search for one through other means. In any event, when they do find that special person that they want to work with they literally put their lives and the life of their baby in their hands.
Sometimes newborn care specialists are referred to as “baby nurses” because they take care of the infant through the night and through the times when the parents are getting rest. Depending on the situation and the stipulations of the work agreement the baby nurse will be by the baby’s side when it is born and will continue to be a part of their everyday life until they are excused from the task.
The responsibilities of the newborn specialist can vary, but generally are composed of:
- Feeding the baby
- Comforting the baby
- Changing diapers
- Watching over the infant
- Helping with baby laundry
- Sleep training
In addition to the routine care duties the baby nurse may also:
- Educate the parents about newborn care
- Offer advice and consultation
- Show the parents how to take care of the baby
As many parents soon learn, the baby does not come with a set of instructions. When they are born the hospital staff gives lots of congratulations and wishes you luck as you leave the facility to embark on the new exciting journey that is about to take place.
A highly skilled baby nurse will provide instruction, assistance, guidance, and an extra set of hands as the baby begins to explore its newfound life.
What Qualifications Should a Newborn Specialist Have?
In general, newborn care specialists do not have to have any certifications or a license to take care of a newborn baby. However, it is highly recommended that if a family is going to hire one to take care of their baby they should only hire a specialist that has an impressive resume, lots of great references, is certified, and has at least 5 years of proven, documented, experience in the field.
There are plenty of associations and resources out there that provide training courses and education so that a newborn care specialist (NCS) can be thoroughly educated and trained in the realm of caring for newborns, but experience and wisdom are very important factors when it comes to caring for a newborn.
The baby nurse should be certified, at minimum, in:
- Infant care
- Infant sleep
- Infant health and wellness
- Infant CPR
And should have an advanced understanding of:
- Infant development
- Establishing infant routines
- Bathing the baby
- Sterilization and cleanliness
- Newborn language and communication
- Understanding cues and how to respond to them
- Understanding SIDS and baby shaken syndrome
The best way to find a great NCS is to hire one through a professional agency that will do all of the work and collect all of the information for you before you ever meet the person. Some of these agencies will go the extra mile to find high-quality baby nurses that are highly educated and have impeccable references.
Quality Characteristics of a Great Baby Nurse
As we mentioned above it takes a great deal of heart to care for newborn children. In reality, caring for a newborn baby is not for everybody. It takes a person with a gentle, loving personality to be able to connect with the baby on a deep level. Some of the must-have characteristics of a newborn care specialist should be:
- Patient and mellow
- Kind and loving
- Compassionate and caring
- Understanding and knowledgeable
- Dedicated and trustworthy
- Responsible and reliable
It takes a deeper level of commitment for a person to give a newborn baby as much consideration as if it were their own baby. Nonstop screaming, fussiness, refusing to go to sleep, and other types of behavior that can emit from an infant are not welcomed by all people. The ability to patiently calm the baby and allow them to go through their infancy without becoming frustrated or angry is a golden trait that should be in all people that care for newborns.
Benefits of Hiring a Newborn Care Specialist
What usually happens when a baby is born is the mother takes on the brunt of the responsibility of caring for the newborn. However, with the way that society is evolving, the situations that occur during the first couple of months of the baby’s birth can vary. The one common factor in all situations is that the baby can not take care of itself, and somebody needs to be there to help.
If the parents are already overwhelmed with work, bills, responsibilities, and other types of daily life struggles it can be extremely difficult to take proper care of a newborn baby. Babies need 24-hour care. Parents need sleep.
Some families make the situation work by splitting up shifts between the parents. One parent will stay up nights with the baby, while the other stays around during the day. Although this may be a great solution for one family, it can be a horrible solution for the next.
Since the NCS will be accustomed to taking the night shift they will be able to take care of the infant while the rest of the house rests. Since most families have at least one parent that must maintain a full-time job in order to keep the bills paid the extra hand of help during sleeping hours helps.
The NCS can offer:
- Restful sleep
- Piece of mind
- Shared responsibility
- Assistance with help during necessary times
Since newborns do not have any type of set schedule when they are hungry, when they have to poop, when they want to feel fussy, or anything else having a backup person through the night is worth its weight in gold.
When parents try to share the responsibility between the two of them what happens is they both end up exhausted, frustrated, and worn out. The help that a baby nurse brings to the situation can help keep the family healthy, calm, and refreshed when they need it the most.
How to Hire a Newborn Care Specialist
There are plenty of ways that a family could hire a NCS, but the best way to go about it is to do a lot of research and prepare yourself for the task. The last thing a family wants is to bring a person into their home that they can’t trust.
Some of the more popular ways that parents find great baby nurses are:
- Recommendations from a family member or freind
- An accredited website that lists specialists
- A newborn nanny agency
- Website listings
- Commercials or advertisements
One piece of advice is to find seveal to ponder and compare before you siimply choose the first one that comes to you. As we discussed earlier in this article, it is imortant to find a professional that has experience and good references.
Negotiating A Home Worker Contract
Any newborn care speicalist that works as a professional will prefer if there is a contract agreement in place before the work relationship starts. This contract will be in place so that both sides of the relatoionship will completely understand the role of the NCS as well as any expectations that are present from either side.
Some of the articles of interest that should be included in this contaract are:
- Schedule and days to be worked
- Paid holidays and time off
- The duties of newborn care specialist
- The rate of pay
- Length of contract
- What to do in an emergency
As with any other contract between an employer and an employee there should be an adequate job description and some rules that will determine the outline of the employment.
For example:
- Rules of the home (smoking, eating, etc.)
- What and when to report information
- How the employment relationship can be terminated
Some of the key elements that should be discussed and agreed upon in the contract are how long the employment relationship is expected to be, how much the NCS will be paid, how often they wil be paid, and what the employer expects of the worker.
Conclusion
At the end of the day the key things that it takes to be a newborn care specialist are willingness and patience. If a family can find a qualified specialist that is willing to go the extra mile while caring for the baby and show the considerable amount of patience that it takes to handle an infant, that family – and their newborn – is in good hands.