Maternity Nurses are generally on duty five or six days a week, 24 hours a day. Alternatively, some Nurses cover an 8 to 12 hour period, night or day. A Maternity Nurse will provide a broad range of duties to assist and guide the parents in adapting to having a new addition to the family.

What duties do they perform?
A Maternity Nurse will take care of all duties associated with mother, baby and nursery. This can include some or all of the following:-

care of the baby’s clothes and equipment;
encourage and assist with breast-feeding;
preparation and sterilisation of bottles;
night feeds;
provision of advice on all sorts of baby information;
help and advice on establishing baby’s routine.

All Maternity Nurses vary in the “extras” they will perform. This is something that can be investigated at the interview where your needs and their ability to meet them can be discussed. These extras may include shopping, preparation of meals, school runs and dog walking. A Maternity Nurse is not responsible for domestic cleaning, household laundry or care of siblings except where previously agreed.

We must stress that many extras will depend on the individual Maternity Nurse and also on how good baby is at night and the amount of sleep they have had. A Maternity Nurse cannot stay awake all day and night!

Travel Expenses
The Client is requested to reimburse all reasonable travelling expenses for interviews and travel at the commencement of the post. For overseas positions, the Client is responsible for all travel and medical insurance.

How Much Does a Maternity Nurse Cost?
Maternity Nurses are self-employed and liable for their own Tax and National Insurance Contributions. Their salaries which are gross payments vary according to their age, experience, and the number of babies they are responsible for and are as follows:

Single baby £500 - £700 per week
Twins £700 - £850 per week
Triplets £800 - £950 per week
Daily/Nightly rate £10.00 - £12.00 per hour (singleton)
£12.00 - £14.00 per hours (twins)

Please note that the above figures are subject to change.

On occasions we do have ladies who apply to use who wish to change their current childcare careers to Maternity Nursing. After careful questioning, investigation into experience with newborn babies and checking references we will register them if we think they have the ability and commitment to become excellent Maternity Nurses. If you would be interested in booking one of these Maternity Trainees, do ask for extra information on availability. They charge between £400 and £475 gross per six day week depending on previous experience and hours of work.

What Qualifications Do We Look for?
Until recently, there has been no specific Maternity Nurse qualification. Below are ones that are recognised and appropriate to the profession:-

Cache level 3 – old NNEB certificate (National Nursery Examination Board)
BTEC Nursery Nursing
NAMCW – National Association of Maternal and Child Welfare
Midwifery and Nursing Diplomas
City & Guilds (Caring Services)

Registered candidates are advised to keep themselves up-to-date with current research and advice by renewing first aid certificates and by attending agency run breast-feeding and colic and reflux workshops.

The more recent Maternity Nanny Training course is an excellent way for nannies to obtain entry into the maternity profession and for more established nurses to obtain an update on current advice and practice. Affiliated courses are also run on postnatal depression, multiple births and paediatric first aid.

We check all certificates possible, with the relevant awarding bodies for validity and authenticity. Although qualifications are useful, there are many Maternity Nurses who do not have any formal qualifications but have years of experience within childcare and are excellent at caring for new born babies.

Au Pairs and Nannies International Ltd prides itself on providing high standards of maternity care. We have an ongoing reference checking procedure, whereby we send out confidential forms to each Client in order to monitor standards and check our candidates’ ongoing suitability.

How To Book a Maternity Nurse and For How Long

Interviews
An important aspect of finding the right Maternity Nurse is to personally interview them. This will give you a good idea of their personality and how they will fit into your household. A guide to interview techniques and the topics of conversation you may wish to discuss is included in this brochure.

Once you feel you have found the right person we suggest that you check some, if not all of the references provided. To avoid disappointment, we suggest that you do this as quickly as possible and to kindly keep us informed at all times.

If you are unable to meet a candidate that you really like after having had a telephone interview, it is possible to provisionally book them, subject to interview at a later date. This will ensure that the candidate is not introduced to other Clients with the same dates prior to you meeting each other and confirming dates.

Duration of Post
Length of stay will depend on your requirements and can vary from 1 week to 6 months, although we recommend at least 3-4 weeks to establish an optimum routine and to ensure you have plenty of rest. Should you wish to extend the booking either prior to or during the booking, it must be agreed with Au Pairs and Nannies International Ltd so that the candidate’s diary can be amended and the appropriate fee charged NB: Our minimum placement fee is 2 weeks (please see our Terms and Conditions of Business for further details).

Booking Dates
The start date should be confirmed at the time if booking your Maternity Nurse to allow her to plan her working diary effectively. It is also a requirement that you pay your chosen Maternity Nurse a 50% retainer of her salary from the booked start date until commencement of post. This needs to be considered when choosing the start date.

Please also note before booking your nurse that all Maternity Nurses are self-employed. This means that they may supply you with their own contract. Factors such as deposits, retainers, salary for Bank Holidays and cancellation clauses should be discussed at interview stage.

A booking is made when you call us to confirm and the Maternity Nurse has also agreed to join you. We will then write a letter of confirmation to you detailing the start date, length of booking and contact details for the Maternity Nurse. We will then suggest that you write to the Maternity Nurse confirming these arrangements. We will also include a contract (if required) and our invoice. Payment of our invoice is due within ten working days. If the position is to start immediately then we will require payment by return of post.

What To Do When The Maternity Nurse Leaves
When you feel that you no longer require specialist Maternity care, 24 hours per day it may be more advantageous to employ a nanny. We find that an overlap is sometimes useful between the Maternity Nurse and the new Nanny especially if the nanny needs up-to-date advice on baby care. Our agency has a large number of high calibre Nannies for you to choose from and we can be contacted on Tel: 0207 754 0055 to discuss your needs further.

What To Expect From Au Pairs & Nannies International Ltd
Au Pairs & Nannies International Ltd offers a personal, professional and efficient service that will allow you to enjoy a stress free time both before and after birth. From our initial contact we will try to establish an idea of the type of Maternity Nurse you feel will integrate well into your family (e.g. age, personality, experience, etc.). Profiles will then be sent to you of reference checked, interviewed and experienced Maternity Nurses. To avoid disappointment, we advise that you make contact with the proposed Maternity Nurses as soon as you are able to as they are very much in demand.

We ask that you kindly keep in touch with our Consultants throughout your search as your file will be active until a suitable Candidate is found. In order to prevent unnecessary mailings, we request that you inform us should you secure the services of a Maternity Nurse through other avenues. Following interviews and confirmation of the booking we will then provide a support service for both the Client and Maternity Nurse during the booking.

Please feel free to contact us at any stage during your search for a Maternity Nurse. Our office hours are 9am – 5pm from Monday to Thursday and 9am – 4.30pm on Friday. Although out Clients can contact 24 hours a day in an emergency.

The Au Pairs & Nannies International Ltd Guide to Interviewing
The aim of an interview is to:-

Meet and familiarise yourself with the Maternity Nurse, her personality and judge whether you will be able to work/live with her;
Discuss your ideas on how you see the Maternity Nurse working;
Allow the Maternity Nurse to meet you and other members of your family;
Allow the Maternity Nurse to see her possible working environment.

Interviewing can be time-consuming for both mothers and Maternity Nurses and therefore it is advised that you start with a telephone call to see if you would like to proceed to the interview stage. If you like the sound of the Maternity Nurse, arrange to see them at a mutually convenient time remembering that Maternity Nurses generally only have one free day off a week.

Below is a rough guide of points you may wish to cover at interview:

The most important point to remember is to prepare yourself before you start interviewing. This will save some time and allow you to relax and get to know the Maternity Nurse.
Ideally the interview will take place at the booking location. If this is not possible, try and give the Maternity Nurse an idea of the type of area, accommodation and facilities you have around you.
A tour of your house/flat can be a good ice-breaker and an opportunity to discuss the nursery, meal arrangements, sleeping arrangements and aspects of privacy.
Do try to list a ‘Job Description’ for your Maternity Nurse and discuss their compatibility with your requirements. Topics that we feel useful to cover include: - Use of dummies; - Does the candidate have the baby in bed with her and your feelings about this; - Time off during the day for walks, catching up on sleep etc; - Views on routine i.e. how strict she is about when the baby can be picked up, remembering that it is her duty to settle the baby; - Views on mixed feeding and expressing; - Discretion – in terms of meal times and evenings; - If there are siblings to consider, discuss the relationship you want the Maternity Nurse to have with the siblings and their Nanny, Mothers Help, etc., as relevant; - Flexibility of dates and if she would charge a deposit upon booking.

As Maternity Nurses are all self-employed, it is advisable to ascertain whether they have their own contract and/or charge a deposit. This would then raise topics such as Bank Holidays and cancellation clauses. There should be no dispute about any aspects of the job during the booking.

A good way to introduce these topics and others is to ask Maternity Nurse to describe a typical day. The Maternity Nurse will have a wealth of knowledge on general baby care and also what to buy for your baby.

Finally, as we say to our Maternity Nurses, be yourself – a sense of humour is often key to good communication!

If you are interested in booking a Maternity Nurse, feel free to contact some of her references to verify she is the correct person for you are then let us know your decision as soon as possible.