business idea

[Isyhan]

Can I sound out some mumsnetters please. Im a nurse, also a childminder and I'm studying a post grad diploma in Health Visiting. When I finish I would like to start up in business giving advice to mums about sleep, feeding, baby products etc but do it on self employed basis. I thought about offering a package where Im also on call for a short period of time post birth for sleep and feeding problems. I wondered if there may be a market for this. What do people feel?

I think most Health Visitors offers this to new mums, for free.

The trouble being that 1. They are not on call. 2 the profesion is about to be revamped where Health Visitors will only concentrate on the most needy cases e.g child protection cases etc. havent you noticed screening tests done by Health Visitors are decreasing?

I think there are definitely wealthy parents out there who would pay for that sort of thing.

not in our area. maybe we're just very lucky but our hv's are superb and will do home visits as and when requested.

what area do you live in?

Essex

I would say this role is already carried out in different ways by different bodies, materbity nurses and doulas being the two that spring to mind.

Yes but my thoughts are that maternity nurses in my experience are extremely short staffed (national midwifery shortage) and Im not sure they are on call and doulas whilst being very caring supportive people are not trained. at least when Ive seen programmes or read about them they havent been. I may be wrong which is why Im asking for your input.

many doulas are ex midwives, antental teachers, even ex helath visitors if not they are still considerably experienced IME Maternity nurses are often independent so therefore midwifery shortage would not affect them. I think its a good idea but my be hard to get off the ground. Good Luck

isyhan I'm a doula and honey I've been trained and have ongoing training. I trained with Michel Odent. If you go to www.doulauk.org you will see that all of the doulas that are registered with them have taken up training.

Perhaps you might consider become a postnatal doula? There's a shortage.

Mars lady i was just reading on google about the training. What do you charge per hour for your services as a Doula?

I think if there is a market for it then there will be people already offering this sort of service - what is currently on offer?

"business giving advice to mums about sleep, feeding, baby products"

But you can get all of that on Mumsnet for free.

To be honest the idea of these women who are paid to give advice to mothers about sleep and feeding always makes me a bit angry - isn't the whole point of motherhood that you learn how all that sort of thing works with YOUR BABY?

There seems to be quite a market for private breastfeeding counsellors - at least I've read a few things about it.

I think the hard part would be actually maintaining a business where you won't be able to work set hours or plan your work in advance much.

I'm happy to discuss that you with off board babe. Lovelymarslady at aol dot com.

And can I say that if you are going to have a website then let the gorgeous gorgeous superclever MorningPaper design it for you. Mine is fab!

morningpaper. Its not meant to make you angry. the whole point is that I can give my time to work with mums in their homes with their own babies and not get generic advice from a computer. when you are in tears at 2 am because you have a screaming baby perhaps a service like this may help. I dont know thats why Im asking. If loads of people say its crap then its not a good idea. Fairdoos.

Mrasy, I didnt know you are a doula [ignoramous emoticon]

I've always fancied having a go at that? do you need any previous experience of nursing or the like to do it?

(Sorry for they hijack, Isyhan. )

Isyhan it's nothing personal . I do worry when professionals offer "solutions" in the mother-baby relationship.

I'd look to see what other services are being offered. Night maternity nurses are always being asked for on here....

I dont think Id offer any more of a solution than a maternity nurse or doula. id offer a different perspective as any of these other services offer and Id just hope that the experience working with children and studying at postgraduate level had offered another perspective if not whats the point. Im not saying its right but I think as the squeeze on health services is increased there may be a need for this kind of service.

I think it's a good idea but as a new business you really need to find a gap in the market to make it really work. I personally do not think there is a big enough gap for you to make it work sufficiently. It depends what your ultimate goals are. It could be very rewarding but your clients could be very few and far between.

Good Luck

There's certainly a market for it. Could you offer a different angle or really specialise in one area (sleep would be a good one).

I agree with sleep LOL! BIG market for that i would have thought!

2shoes, you're lucky but look at what happened with our HV it does seem to differ where you live (If you're wondering Isyhan, she told us at 18 months that Ds's speech issues couldn't be looked at until he was over 3..... found out he has ASD, speech problems and the PAed is angry she didn't geta refraal at 18 months).

I second JimJams. In my area (Twickenham/Richmond), I have several friends who have paid astonishing amounts to baby sleep specialists.

There's no doubt you'll have to work hard to market yourself as a viable and desirable alternative/supplement to HVs, Mumsnet etc. but I do believe that there is market for paid personal support to new mothers.

Good luck with your venture. I hope all goes well.

Now if you want practice with sleep problems, how about a 7 year old severely autistic child who has lost the ability to distinguish day from night (rubs hands with glee). I'd give you a free quote

Ah jimjams that would be a challenge. I was thinking that it may be an idea to specialise in sleep. Ive pondered it for years really and lent out books to parents on the subject etc. All informally though. I wouldnt want to just market myself as a private HV. I would also be prepared to travel so I wouldnt just look locally.

Isyhan, I think that if you marketed yourself well then this could work. I am currently training to be a peer counsellor (bfing) and all the trainees are complaining about lack of support from MWs and HVs in our area.

Morningpaper - I was interested to read about demand for private bfing councellors - do you have any links to articles etc. Just a thought for the future...thanks.

Laundrylover - Its the same in my area. I think its partly because HVs are getting pulled into more Child Protection work and 'problem families' that means less general screening and advice for ordinary mums trying to cope with everyday things like sleep problems and feeding issues.