Hellobee Boards

Mrs. Starfish did a blog post about this! http://www.hellobee.com/2017/08/21/using-a-night-nanny/

I never did this but a good friend did. The night nurse slept on her couch for a couple of weeks. She would bring the baby to my friend to nurse at night, then give him a bottle (she was having supply issues at the time) and get him settled and back to sleep or otherwise deal with the baby until it was time to eat again. I don’t know the details but it sounded like a good idea.

Getting one was the best thing I did when DS was born. I had a preemie, a C section and being able to catch up on my sleep was invaluable.

I had just moved from NYC, where baby nurses are very common, and I had one lined up to work nights (we lived in a 2br and I like my privacy so didn't want a stranger around during the day). She ended up not working out, days before I had DS, and I told everyone I knew in my new city to try to find a replacement, including one of the L&D nurses in the hospital. She and another nurse offered to help out and switched off nights, 10pm-7am, probably 5 nights a week for 4 weeks. It was not cheap but was so worth it.

They would arrive, and I would go to sleep (DS was FF so I could sleep straight through). DS would just have been fed/changed before they came, so they would usually hang out in the living room and read until his midnight feed, then sometimes sleep on the daybed in DS's room between his other 2 feeds. They also gave me tips on bathing, bellybutton care, how to get him to eat more at a feeding, dream feeds, and beginning sleep training, both as L&D nurses and moms.

For my friends who had them who were BFing, the baby nurse would bring them the baby to eat, then handle the burping, diaper change etc.

Wall me if you want more info or interview questions, a friend shared some and included things I hadn't even considered to ask.

Hi! So I can comment on what we did for DS1 and what our plan is for DS2.
For DS1, I initially declined all help. I live in NYC where it is EXTREMELY common to get a baby/night nurse for at least the first couple of weeks home with baby and often much longer (months). I’m not from here so I thought that was ridiculous. Not taking into account that my family isn’t close by.
Well, I started deteriorating mentally in the hospital after a long difficult labor with little to no sleep (thanks, nyc hospitals that make moms share rooms with each other!)
From the hospital my husband called a Post Partum Doula that a friend of ours had recommended and he thankfully kept! It was nice but she only came maybe 3 or so hours a day a couple of days a week. So...let’s say 6-10 hours a week max. And she was $50/hr (not cheap!). It was nice but it wasn’t as much “relief” as I needed. She acted almost as a therapist for me (someone to talk to), gave me foot rubs and was a LC. But only a couple hours here and there wasn’t sufficient for me.

Anyway, after another week or so of not really sleeping at night, we realized just how sensitive I am to sleep deprivation. My PPD was spiraling out of control. So we called a baby/night nurse that a friend had used for their first 2 babies. She was available nights only 3-5 nights a week, depending on the week (ie she had other things booked so she would come to us the nights she was free). She came 6pm - 7am a few nights a week for what ended up being 4 months. It was expensive but worth it. I still suffered from PPD for the entire first year (as we failed to realize that’s what it was) but it was IMMENSELY better since I was getting a few nights a week of solid sleep. Also, date nights. I was home with a newborn all day and losing my mind. So knowing that at 6pm the nurse would arrive and DH would get home from work was huge. DH and I got out of the apt every night she was there. For a walk, dinner, a drink, whatever. It just helped so much to feel normal and have some 1-1 time with him. We still struggled a lot in the first year but those nights it didn’t seem so bad.

So, new baby due in March....let’s just say that the baby nurse mentioned above was the 3rd person to know I was pregnant! Right after me and DH My husband said that we aren’t messing around this time, we got 24 hour baby nurse for 2 months. Which seems like a lot BUT the difference in cost for night vs 24 hour is like $50/day. It made much more sense to tie her down for 24 hour since 1) it doesn’t cost much more 2) I can always cut her loose for the day if it becomes too much (I’m an introvert) and she will take my lead on involvement 3) I don’t have any other help and I do have 2 kids now - my older one is in preschool still so I wanted to be able to walk him to school each morning and pick him up without making the baby go in and out multiple times a day.
Also, mental health. DH and I are in an incredible place right now and we just cannot fathom going back to where we were before. And if spending some money for solid sleep and sanity for a couple of months will help, we’ll do it. Oh and she is only there for the first two wknds. So after that we will have weekends alone as a family and I’ll get the experience of night feedings that I was afraid to completely miss. But Sun - Fri night I’ll get a full night of sleep. Oh and I am probably going to FF this time or at least FF overnight so I won’t even have to wake for feedings or pumping. If I was BF I would really reconsider if I needed her at night.

As for your specific questions - last time ours stayed on the couch and she had the video monitor. This time since she’s more full time I might have her spend the night in the baby’s room, but I’m also inclined to let her decide where she is more comfortable. I think she prefers sleeping separately for the same reason I did - newborns are noisy and often sleep worse when they sense someone is in the room.

Another thing they do that is really helpful - out baby on schedule! She got my son’s daytime and bedtime routine down by 5 weeks. She also gave me lots of good tips (getting him used to his crib early, etc).
This time I know better how I want to set his schedule, prep for sleep training, etc. So I’ll probably take more of a lead.