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As a new or expecting parent curious about overnight newborn care, you probably have many questions. One of them might be, “do baby nurses stay awake all night?” Great question! In this blog post, we’ll discuss the norms for overnight newborn care and what to expect.
What is a Baby Nurse?
First off, let’s clear up some confusion. The term “baby nurse” is a bit outdated – the more accurate term is “Newborn Care Specialist.” NCS’s are trained professionals who are experts in caring for newborn babies and supporting new parents, especially in the first few weeks after birth. They are overseen by the Newborn Care Specialist Association.
For more information on Newborn Care Specialists, see our top related blog posts:
- How Newborn Care Specialists Help New Parents Sleep
- Postpartum Doula vs. Newborn Care Specialist: What’s the Difference?
- Newborn Care Specialist vs. New York City Baby Nurse
- Newborn Care Specialist vs. Newborn Care Expert
- Traveling with a Newborn Care Specialist
Do Baby Nurses Stay Awake All Night?
The short answer: Maybe! It depends.
The longer answer: While some Newborn Care Specialists do provide awake care where they stay up all night to attend to the baby, most do not. Awake care typically comes at a higher hourly rate, as it is more demanding for the caregiver.
Some parents may prefer awake care, especially if they have a baby with medical needs that requires more frequent attention throughout the night. In these cases, the care provider would remain awake and vigilant to monitor the baby. Awake medical care shifts are supported by care providers with medical training, such as RNs or LPNs.
However, for most situations, caregivers working with healthy infants aim to provide resting care – where they are present in the same room as the baby, but are able to rest themselves when the baby is sleeping. This allows them to best support a baby during overnight hours where we are focused fostering an ideal environment for high quality rest. We believe that in most scenarios, the most appropriate overnight care for newborns is resting care.
Awake Care vs. Resting Care
Our team of Newborn Care Specialists and Postpartum Doulas at Nightingales also includes Registered Nurses (RNs) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) who can provide awake medical care if needed. But in general, we don’t see it as beneficial for healthy babies, or their caregivers, to have someone up and about at night. We want to maintain a calm, consistent environment where babies learn from birth that nighttime is for resting.
Our Newborn Care Specialists will room share with your baby per American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, resting with a listening ear so they can promptly attend to your baby’s needs. Team members will arrive to your home well-rested, having slept during the day [and not expecting to get any quality sleep themselves while working]. However, we don’t feel it’s beneficial to force caregivers to stay fully awake in a dark room with white noise all night – we want them to be able to get home safely after their shift as well.
By providing resting care, our team can offer the most appropriate overnight support, teaching healthy sleep habits while also ensuring the parents and caregivers get the rest they need.
