Maternity nurse - is it worth it?

[kathmum]

Hi - it's my first baby and I'm looking in to hiring a maternity nurse for 1 - 2 weeks when the baby arrives but not sure if its worth the cost? (Have been quoted approx £750 per week).

The main reason that I wanted to get a maternity nurse was to help get baby into a routine so that he/she may get into a good sleep pattern as early as possible.
Has anyone got any advice from hiring/not hiring a meternity nurse?

Any advice would be great!!

Thanks!

Are you planning to breastfeed?

that was going to be my question too! if you are breastfeeding you'll be up anyway so def wouldnt bother. seems like a ot of money to me for something you could either attempt to do yourself or wont work anyway with a really really tiny one. if you o want to breastfeed you'll have to be willing to be disrupted really quite a lot in the first few weeks to get your supply established. if you will have a partner around who can take the baby so you can get some sleep when not feeding i would save the money personally. but your call!!

a doula that would look after you would be a better bet, do you have your dp/dh around?

Someone to come in to clean and cook would be handier, in my experience. If you are going to breastfeed you'll be up anyway.

I'm not a great fan of routines. My DS found his own routine after about 13, 14 weeks and it changed regularly. Save your money, I think.

Hi I sometimes did a bit of Maternity Nursing between my regular clients for behaviour stuff and had contracts lasting for a couple of weeks to months!

To be honest, for some families, the extra support is invaluable in itself, like a comfort blanket for the new parents and for those families I think it is probably worth every penny. Then there are the parents who want specific advice and support with feeding/sleep, etc. For these families I think that the help is often better later down the line as babies can be in a very good pattern and then slip oput of it around 4-6 months, and not many people want a Mat Nurse for months on end.

If it were me, as a mother myself and with experience of sleep training toddlers and babies as a one off as well as maternity nursing and setting up routines for sleep over several weeks, then I'd say, muddle through for the first month and then if you really need the support then hire a sleep coach or maternity nurse who is perhaps willing to spend a week or a few days with you when your baby is older and at transitional stages such as parents' room to nursery, cot to bed and so on.

no. use the money to employ a cleaner and to send ironing out. then spend the rest on some fab spa treatments for new mums.

I wouldn't bother. Get a cleaner in, someone to do the ironing and stock up on lovely food or takeaways. You need to spend the time getting to know your baby with your DH, and getting in to your own routine - a stranger in the house when I'd just given birth would have felt weird to me.

look into a post natal doula aswell, some do overnight care , they can support you and help you with the baby , many also do cooking, and household chores etc and help support you to look after your new born

i would also forget about a week or two's help making any difference in getting a newborn into a routine

newborns have tiny stomachs that need filling a lot and you can;t make them go any longer between feeds than they can physically go. your newborn cannot and should not go or be encouraged to go 3 -4 hours between feeds

esepcially if you are breastfeeding, the baby needs to go to the breast as often as he/she needs day and night for the first few weeks

also as your baby has growth spurts or maybe has a cold, or when he/she starts teething, you will find their sleep patterns will alter anyway

I've hired a postnatal doula for a couple of weeks after my (first) baby is born in mid-March, with the intention that she can offer some advice and lend a hand, plus look after the baby for a little bit each day whilst I have a rest etc etc.

So whilst I can't say whether it's been helpful or not yet (as the baby's yet to be born), that's what my own plan is.

One of my friends with children gave me similar advice to others on this thread - hire a cleaner, send out the ironing ie contract out the housework.

Another, who is pretty much towards the born-again SAHM end of the spectrum said she wouldn't fancy the idea of any strangers helping her in the immediate postnatal period.

So I guess there's something symbolic in these differences of views, to do with how much of a 'natural' mother you feel like you might be - in my case not at all and frankly delighted by the idea of someone else to assist/offer advice etc, in my SAHM friend's case the complete opposite.

One useful point: the doula I've hired is also an experienced maternity nurse. She was an MN first and then trained as a doula more recently. So she can do the doula-ing for the first couple of weeks and then later act as a materity nurse (which I'd see as more of a baby nanny function ie looking after the baby whilst I do something else) if we seem to get along. I would think there are other doulas like this too - although I'm no expert!

Hope this is useful.

if you want help with routine but only want/afford a mn nurse for 2 weeks (obv cost comes into it) then tbh i wouldnt bother to get one as soon as baby is born, as the first few weeks they are very little and sleep feed lots and imo would be a waste of money

you are better off with getting a mn or night nanny once your baby is 3/4 weeks old to get them into a routine, by this time they should be feeding every 3/4hrs depending on breast/formula

all my babies i have looked after are in a good routine and sleep throught from 8 weeks old (with dream feed 10/11) and this is dropped by 12 weeks so sleep 7-7

Cleaner, domestic help far far better use of your money!

thank you so much for all the advice.
Husband (is this the abbreviation DH?)will be around but I cant rely on him too much as he's studying and working.

Do you know where I can find additional info on a doula? And whats the difference between a doula and a mat nurse?

Thank you!

lol at the term born-again SAHM

Agree with other posters that you will get much better value for money from a cleaner/ironer/housekeeper/mother's help than from a mat nurse. What you really need is to be relieved of all domestic chores and errands for the first six weeks after the birth - £1,500 will EASILY cover this.

www.doula.org.uk www.nurturingbirth.co.uk

will tell you all you need to know about doulas

Anna8888 is spot on

a doula will help you with the baby, make sure that you're looking after yourself (and offer you help to ensure that you are) and will also help with lihgt housework.

A maternity nanny will help with the baby.

Where are you based? I may be able to help as as I work as both a doula and night nanny.

At least with a doula, you can have them as much or as little as you need and they aren't living in your home.

I had a maternity nurse for 4 weeks after my baby (first child) was born and I found her invaluable. I did breastfeed but I was able to get more rest by having her around. I cheated a little by letting her give a middle of the night feed with formula and the rest of the time I breastfed. Long story but if my milk supply had been good enough I would have pumped to supply the middle of the night feed for her to give so you could do this instead of having her give formula. For the late night feed she took my son away after the feed and settled him to sleep in the room with her so I was able to go to sleep straight away instead of having to try and settle him myself. It meant I got an unbroken amount of sleep from about midnight to 6am. She also gave invaluable advice on how to care for a newborn - was a sort of coach for me - and enabled me to have a break in the middle of the day by taking him for a while so I could rest or relax/catch up on emails/call friends/whatever! She also helped with cooking.

Although expensive I felt she was worth it as she gave me and my son an excellent start. However, I think the minimum time to book a maternity nurse for is 4 weeks to ensure you get enough benefit from her, particularly if you are not having a pre-planned caesarian as you won't know exactly when the baby will arrive. Mine arrived nine days after the booking started - so I had to pay half pay for those days. Fortunately I managed to extend her booking for an extra week as her next baby was also late. If I had only booked her for a couple of weeks and the baby was late it would have hardly been worth having her come for only 3 or four days of the remaining booking period.

I am a maternity nurse and have done lots of jobs for just 2-3 weeks at the very beginning and would say that this has been amazing for both mum and baby.

I feel that many people are actually unaware of what a modern maternity nurse does! I care for both mum and baby. I am pro pro breast feeding and would never leave a baby hungry, force them into a routine or jeopardise mums milk supply by spreading out feeds too early. Infact I would say that by having a maternity nurse you have a really good chance of getting a great milk supply as the nurse will make sure you dont leave it too long inbetween feeds and that you rest and eat properly when you can! I also do help with cooking and ironing if that is needed. I understand that not all maternity nurses are like this but there are plenty out there who are! If you can afford a maternity nurse then I say go for it. Just make sure that when you interview that you really look for someone that suits you. And as the lady above says really think about your booking dates!

Good luck!

I wonder how many of the people on this thread have actually had a maternity nurse. I had a maternity nurse after the birth of my first child, for 2 weeks and it was the best money we have ever spent. We arrived home from hospital with a child that we had no clue about. She spent 2 weeks helping us with everything from breastfeeding to bathing to reassuring us that the strange little noises eminating from this child were completely normal. She made sure that I rested and that I learnt about my baby, it was wonderful. She also cooked and tidied for us making sure that I slept and ate properly. At no time did she take over from me as the mother but she gave me so much confidence that when she left I felt totally equipped to deal with my baby. Despite having an extremely unsettled baby I never once felt that I couldn't cope and didn't even have one down day. I attribute a huge amount to the support I had in those early days.

I didn't have a nurse for my next child, I didn't need one but a good one is worth every single penny.However, if your aim is to get the baby into a routine and to get it sleeping well then a maternity nurse is not your person, tiny babies do neither, you would be better off holding out and getting some help at a later date if sleeping is going to pot.