to think "maternity nurse" should be a protected term?

[ZoeCM]

Self-appointed sleep experts are advising parents to put their babies to sleep on their tummies. SIDS cases drastically reduced following the Back to Sleep campaign. Astonishing that these women are getting away with advising tummy stomach. The worst part is that they probably know it'll kill some babies, but they know it'll also help babies sleep longer and therefore customers will recommend them to others.

The issue with protecting a name like maternity nurse is that it would end up in a game of whack-a-mole with maternity nurses rebranding to an unprotected name, another scandal leading to that name being protected and so on.

It’s awful that there are people peddling such dangerous advice and charging for the privilege but having had a baby a year ago it was totally impossible to escape safe sleep messaging. It was everywhere that baby should be in a clear cot, on their back with either a tucked in blanket or properly sized sleeping bag as it should be and while nobody should be advocating for anything different, the parents are the ones choosing to listen to someone online vs the NHS guidance. And I don’t see how any government could police a maternity nurse under that name or another giving bad or dangerous advice.

I recently had a baby and am very disturbed at how hard these “sleep experts” are pushed by the Instagram algorithm. My baby is not a good sleeper but I’m not particularly bothered about it, but these things create anxiety!

I can’t imagine paying £500 to be told to put my baby to sleep on her tummy! I’m lucky to have a really good health visiting service and she has been so helpful with sleep.

Aren't these sleep consultants rather that maternity nurses?

Maternity nurses are a very long standing job title, like nursery nurses.

What exactly is a maternity nurse, a midwife?health visitor? paediatric nurse? Maternity nurse isn’t a qualification in the same sense as any of those, it’s important not to automatically believe they are registered nurses and even more important, I hope, not to follow the advice of so called experts who charge you £500 to advise you to do something that all those other professionals would absolutely not tell you to do and which frankly is potentially threatening

But, like @Sadcafe , there isn't actually a definition of this, let alone training and regulatory compliance.

Our gardener could tell me she's a maternity nurse. She wouldn't be doing anything illegal.

YABU but only in the sense that Registered Nurse is already a protected term and no nurse should be dispensing dangerous advice and people shouldn't be calling themselves nurses if they aren't.

I think it's exactly the same as so-called 'counsellors' who have no qualifications whatsoever. Caveat emptor - if you want advice go to the qualified people who have spent years studying. I needed some mental health support when a family member tried to kill themselves several times in the space of six months. I found a psychotherapist - I didn't just go online and find the first person who had a social media account.

‘Nurse’ should be protected and used only by registered nurses.

I could call myself a kebab nurse and offer advice on kebabs.

Same as a nursery nurse or a nanny, you can just get a job doing that thing.

I’ve never actually heard of a maternity nurse. I have heard of midwives, health visitors and nurses.
I would probably assume a maternity nurse was a qualified nurse though.

You're not rich enough 😂

This sounds like a fun job.

Just looked online and the term "nurse" is now a protected title, not just "registered nurse".