A Newborn Care Specialist is an individual trained and skilled in newborn care. They provide unique expertise in all aspects of newborn care, parental education and support. Their job is to help nurture and care for newborns while providing guidance and education for the parents.

The primary role of a Newborn Care Specialist is to provide assistance and education after the parents bring the baby home from the hospital. Many times this help will include scheduling, feeding, sleep training, help with breastfeeding and more.

Newborn Care Specialists will generally work night shifts managing the baby’s care while the parents sleep restfully. When the baby wakes up, the NCS feeds by bottle or brings the baby to the mom for nursing.

During the daytime a Newborn Care Specialist will provide similar care and also strive to create a nurturing and stimulating environment for the baby during waking hours. Both day and night NCS document the baby’s patterns and keep a log of sleeping, feeding and changing times to assist in transitioning the baby to a regular schedule. My information on daytime NCS care can be found under Consultations.

Newborn Care Specialists are generally not responsible for household duties unrelated to the new baby or for the care of other children in the household.

A Newborn Care Specialist will typically perform the following duties:

• Educate and support parents.

• Create a smooth transition for family during the newborn stage.

• Troubleshoot potential issues of concern with the newborn and offer professional options to resolve them.

• Maintain a thorough log of infant feeding and sleep patterns.

• Assist the family with any feeding issues they may have, including formula feeding and the facilitation of breastfeeding and be knowledgeable in answering feeding related questions.

• Soothes babies using skills and proven techniques that help calm newborns.

• To provide care for the newborn and perform some or all of the following tasks:

• Diapering

• Changing

• Bathing

• Circumcision Care

• Bottle Preparation (Breastmilk & Formula)

• Bottle Cleaning

• Organization & Maintenance of Nursery

• Create a regular feeding schedule

• Assist in establishing healthy sleep habits

• Maintain a thorough log of eating, sleeping and behavioral patterns

• Take over complete care of newborn at night to provide parents time to sleep

A Newborn Care Specialist schedule typically consists of 8-10 hour shifts, but might be 12 or 24 hours long when the baby has just arrived or when sleep training begins. An NCS can be available for part-time, short term jobs, but usually works a minimum of 4 weeks.

While it might seem like all of these titles are interchangeable and mean the same thing, there are actually some differences in the tasks performed, trainings and certifications received and experience. I will explain some of these differences below:

Night Nurse/Baby Nurse

A night nurse is someone who is a registered nurse that works in home with babies that have medical complications and require someone trained in medical practices. It is necessary to check credentials and make sure that the night nurse you are hiring is actually a trained and registered nurse. The term night nurse used to mean the same as night nanny, but it is outdated and now only represents someone who has the credentials to be a registered nurse.

A night nurse/baby nurse would typically only offer overnight care for medically fragile babies 0-12 months, but might offer care to older children as well.

Night Nanny

A night nanny is someone that has childcare experience but has not gone through any formal training. Usually a night nanny will receive guidance and supervision from the parents and will rely on them to tell her what to do and when to do it.

A night nanny typically offers overnight care for newborns and infants, but might offer care for older children if needed.

Newborn Care Specialist

An NCS is someone who has gone through formal training to become a newborn care specialist. Unlike a night nanny, they usually give guidance and wisdom to the parents. An NCS has more experience working with newborns and can teach the parents about newborn care, hygiene, safety, sleep, and more. An NCS is your personal go-to expert on infants. An NCS is the optimal choice for first time parents or parents who want a caregiver that can take charge and doesn’t need specific instructions on what to do each night.

An NCS typically offers overnight care for newborns ages 0-3 months.

For those that don’t need or want in-person newborn care, I’ve created a program for parents that teaches them everything they need to know about caring for a baby in the first 3 months of their life! This program also comes with 1 month of unlimited text (voxer) access to ask me questions about newborn care, development, and sleep!

This program is $299 (payment plans available, and is included for families that book in person newborn care.

www.elitenanniesondemand.com/newborn101

I don’t sleep train newborns, however I am a sleep focused newborn care specialist which means I focus on implementing healthy sleep habits and routines from day 1! I use sleep conditioning to teach newborns the skill of independent sleep.

I also have a program that teaches you how to do this without me being in your home!

www.elitenanniesondemand.com/newborn101

I do however sleep train babies over 3 months. I offer both in-person and virtual sleep training.

www.elitenanniesondemand.com/sleep-training-support