Terminology such as a Baby Nurse, New-born Care Specialist, and Postpartum Nurse are often used interchangeably. However, the three terminology does not denote the same thing.
My younger sister is a Newborn Care Specialist, but I have heard many people called her a baby nurse or postpartum nurse on many occasions. But the truth is she is neither a baby nurse nor a postpartum nurse
To clear the confusion surrounding the use of these terms, I want to provide you with insight into each of the terms, what they mean, the difference between them and what services they provide.
Meta: If you want to who or what is a baby nurse? Whether a baby nurse is the same as New-born Care Specialist or postpartum nurse, then continue reading.
Let’s begins with what is a postpartum nurse.
The Postpartum Nurse
Postpartum nurses are professional registered nurses who are responsible for helping new baby mothers and their babies after delivery. Right from the labour and delivery room, the postpartum nurse takes care of the patient to the time the patient is discharged from the hospital.
What do postpartum nurses do?
The postpartum nurse is trained to carefully observe postpartum abnormalities such as postpartum depression and other complications in new mothers. The postpartum nurse’s responsibilities or the postpartum nurse’s duties may also include educating mothers on newborn care and also providing them with teachings that will boost their confidence level before sending them home.
They also team up with lactation specialists to play a part in guiding mothers on breastfeeding. Generally, postpartum nurses work in any environment that is set aside for giving birth such as hospitals, community clinics including postpartum home care or centres.
How To Become A Postpartum Nurse
To become a postpartum nurse, you first have to attend a Nursing college or school. After that you have to prepare, write and pass NCLEX-RN, then you work for some time to get the experience. You can then proceed to get the certification as a postpartum nurse.
Check out our recommendations on the best NCLEX -RN study guides.
The New-Born Care Specialist
The term New-born Care Specialist, which many also referred to as infant care specialists is used to describe individuals who are professionally trained to take complete care of newborn babies within their first 3-4 weeks.
A newborn care specialist received special training on how to enhance the sleep habits of the newborn babies and also promotes practices that ensure the well-being and safety of newborn babies.
Basically, the newborn care specialist’s main duties are taking care of newborn babies so that the newborn babies’ mothers can have enough time to rest while working. This is to protect the new mother from being overwhelmed and stress up by her new baby.
In addition, the infant care specialist assists the new parents to gradually adjust and fit into their new life plan or schedule with their baby, while their baby also adjusts to his or her new environment; his or her parents’ home.
The Baby Nurse
The hard truth is that a baby nurse is the same as a newborn care specialist. But it’s important to know that the term is an outdated term for New-born Care Specialists.
History recorded that the term New-born Care Specialist was born in 2007 at the International Nanny Association leaders conference. In the conference, the leaders saw the need to have an appropriate name for individuals that focuses on taking care of newborn babies.
This becomes necessary because the women who are called baby nurses are not trained professionals nurses, yet they are called baby nurses as if they are nurses, and professional nurses are not happy with the development. Calling these women baby nurses is not only inappropriate but illegal.
So the term was switched from nurse baby nurse to newborn care specialist in 2007. This gives the industry a true label or title as it describes the knowledge, training and skills in caring for newborns that these women have.
This development positioned the newborn care specialist under the umbrella of in-home care providers that the International nanny Association represents.
Due to the growth in continuity of education and high demand for newborn care specialist, the International Nanny Association begins offering trainings for newborn care specialists at conferences. A committee for Newborn care specialists have also be formed in 2010 to see to the affairs of NCS.
How To Become A Baby Nurse or New-born Care Specialist
The services of Newborn care specialists are very high in demand. As such the International nanny association is always providing up-to-date training on techniques for sleeping, swaddling, breastfeeding and more for the newborn care specialists.
So if you have a dream of becoming a newborn care specialist, then you have to go through newborn care specialist training or courses. There are many offline and online courses or training you can sign up for if you want to get started.
However, you should consider attending trainings organised or taught in a local hospitals or colleges. After you tasted it and feel it is something you want to do, you can check online courses on Newborn Care Solutions. They offer one of the best online training for newborn care specialist
They offer different levels of online courses that suit your needs. Their infant care specialist courses are both online and offline. The courses are also self-paced so you can study at your schedule.
They have more than a decade of experience in providing training for individuals to become professional newborn care specialists. So they have professionals that will provide you with the needed training to start your newborn care journey.
Bear in mind that it will take you around 10-15 hours in total to complete the basic course. But with the New-born Care Specialist Master Level course, it will take you about 20-25 hours.
Baby Nurse (New-born Care Specialist) Salary
Becoming a newborn care specialist is a good investment. With infant care or newborn care certification you can earn around $17 to $25 an hour. The average annual salary for a certified newborn specialist is around $228,371 in the United States.
Final Conclusion
As we have seen, a baby nurse is an outdated term for newborn care specialists or infant care specialists. The term baby nurse is not only outdated and inappropriate but also illegal. To avoid legal action against you, make sure you stick to use of the right terms ; that’s newborn care specialist instead of a baby nurse.
