I didn’t ever think I’d hire a night nurse for my babies. My husband is a totally hands-on dad, so I guess I didn’t think we’d need hired help because the two of us managed pretty well for our first two babies. But then our third baby came along, and suddenly we were outnumbered.
I realized just how much I needed to let my husband sleep at night so he could be ON with our 5 year old and 2 year old during the day. And I knew I would benefit from the extra rest, too, if we had extra hands at night. Sleep deprivation is part of parenting and new motherhood, for sure. But then after hearing how great of an experience my sister had hiring a night nurse (or night nanny, depending on what they call it in your area), I thought it might not be a bad idea to look into.
What is a night nurse?
There are two common terms: Night nurse and night nanny. My understanding is that sometimes they are with you 24/7 and sometimes they come just at night, like ours did. And though they go by the name “nurse” they may not have a formal RN degree, though some do. Our night nanny was connected to a doula practice which also offered newborn care classes and moms groups, so more of a full-service kind of doula business.
How we found our night nurse
I didn’t realize just how popular hiring a night nurse is. When I started to do some searching around night nurses and night nannies, I was surprised at how many different businesses popped up. But since my sister had just gone through her own night nurse experience a few months prior, I reached out to her contact. Unfortunately they were booked solid but in the end our baby came a few weeks early and their next client hadn’t given birth yet, so they were able to squeeze us in for some night time help.
What our night nurse did
It may be a different experience depending on who you go with for help, but our night nurse did newborn care in 8 hour shifts. She started when our baby was 2 weeks old and stayed 2 nights a week for 3 weeks. So she would arrive around 10pm, do all baby-related care during the night, and hand the baby back off to us at 6am.
She was flexible about what I wanted to do in terms of where the baby would sleep (in our room? in her room? in the baby’s own room?) and what I wanted the schedule to be (bring the baby to me to feed? feed the baby herself? wake us up? let us sleep through?). I was breastfeeding but chose to pump and have bottles in the fridge for her to use so I could get as much sleep as my body would let me have. All she required was a place to sleep- she brought her own pillow and blanket, even though we had a whole bed setup for her.
Our house is set up with a guest room on the first floor, so that’s where the baby and the night nurse slept. The baby slept in a bassinet I kept on the first floor (highly recommend this, btw, if you have a newborn!).
I didn’t have full-time help from our night nurse: Instead, she came twice a week for almost a month. And those nights were great. I could go to bed around 8 or 9 when the big kids did, and then I’d wake up at 6am and take over baby care duties again. (Our night nurse would have woken me up to feed or pump if I had wanted that, but I truly wanted to just sleep as much as possible while she was here. I did end up getting up to pump a few times just for comfort but otherwise I let her handle the baby care fully in the middle of the night.)
She gave us a full set of notes from the night to let us know exactly how much the baby drank, how many diapers she changed (and their contents), and if the baby was fussy or gassy or content.
I’ve heard that some night nurses will do laundry or wash dishes or other household chores. But the service we went with was specific that they will do the newborn-related stuff. This did include washing any pump parts or bottles, though.
How much does a night nurse cost?
Our 4 weeks of a night nurse cost us about $1,900. Again, this is totally dependent on where you live and who you go with. I’ve heard numbers from $25-40 per hour.
The service we used was a set 8 hour shift per night, with a typical package starting at 4 nights and moving up from there. They would start either at 9pm or 10pm (we chose 10pm). Our cost came out to about $29 per hour, or $230 per visit. Yes, this sounded like a lot of money, but if you’re considering a night nurse or night nanny, you’re likely weighing how much this is worth to you. (We live in the Boston area, so remember that costs may be different depending on your location!)
So the 2 nights a week we started with came to $460 a week, multiplied by the 3 weeks we signed on for in the beginning = $1,380. This felt like a lot of money at the time (and it is!), but I also knew from having brought home two babies already how much it would help me.
You should also know that a night nurse is covered under FSA or HSA plans, so definitely check into that if you have one!
When we were offered another week because of a scheduling opening, we took it. So if you’re questioning whether a night nurse was worth it to us, the answer is yes!
You know how people always say, “it takes a village”? Throughout motherhood I’ve envisioned (many times) a full village of women who would take a newborn to help a mom get some rest. And these days it’s just that you kind of have to hire that help if you want the rest!
The best way to find a night nurse
Ask your network! I could have read all of the reviews in the world and I wouldn’t have been comfortable handing my newborn off unless someone I personally knew had a great experience. And that’s how we found our night nanny! Ask your friends, ask their friends. A personal recommendation is great if you can find it. Otherwise, good old Google can definitely help. You’ll want to ask exactly what they do while they’re at your house (some do laundry for the household while others do not).
If you have any questions about hiring a night nurse or what our night nurse experience was, drop them in the comments and I’d be happy to update this post to answer them!
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