Overnight Care

After giving some guidance, we discuss how the feedings will be handled that night. I have families that exclusively breast / chest / body feed and have me bring babies to them when they show hunger cues. Sometimes the lactating person decides to pump overnight and therefore I will feed the baby/ babies with pumped milk in bottles, or I will bottle feed them formula.

I make sure the environment is conducive for sleep (including lighting and temperature) and either feed if hungry, or put baby or babies down for a rest before the next feed.

After a few hours, I either feed them myself, or gently wake whomever is feeding them that night. I will work on a routine that is in coordination with your health care team- typically feeding every 2-4 hours. I have worked with many preemies with various needs and will make sure they are receiving adequate ounces in a 24 hour period. They are changed if needed and put back down, and the cycle repeats.

I wash pump parts and or bottles from my shift before resting.

In the morning, I give a recap in the app of the night, can chat with caregivers again before leaving, or I bring the babies or monitor to the caregivers room.

Working Together

Responding to babies needs is very important. Learning what their movements, facial expressions and sounds mean makes life easier. Families are often able to get into a routine faster than without overnight help from a Newborn Care Specialist. I prefer to meet when baby is up to around 34 weeks weeks gestation. This gives time to meet prenatally, and set up an estimated start date. Some contact when baby is 3- 4 weeks old, and caregivers know they would benefit from additional help. Sunday night is a very popular shift so one or both caregivers can rest before working on Monday.

Do you know your ABC’S?

The first few nights are centered around creating a safe sleep environment, safe sleep habits
as outlined by the AAP (American Association of Pediatrics)

A- Alone, B-Back, C-Crib and creating a routine that works for your family.
I often work on swaddle / sleep sac transition. (Zipadee Zip is a client favorite). If babies needs are met, there is potential of sleeping longer stretches without the need for intervention. “ Sleeping through the night” is going through several sleep cycles and without a feed for a 6 hour stretch. With a typical “bedtime” of 7pm to 8 pm, that means a feed at 6pm and another feed at midnight, and again at 3am or 4am. If sleeping through the night or getting more than 5 hours of sleep per night is important for you or your partner, overnight care might be for you.

What are some of the benefits of having overnight care?

Everyone getting more sleep, reassurance and education about typical newborn behaviors, being taught to read babies’ hunger and sleep cues and much more!
Families are able to EBF (exclusively breast feed), pump, formula feed or a combination with overnight help.

Having a newborn specialist can help you get an average of 2.5 to 3.5 hours more sleep per night. During the first year, caregivers typically lose about 1,000 hours or 1/3 of their sleep. Having twins on average adds another 75 hours of lost sleep. Sleep is as important for new parents as it is for babies.