What Do I Want Overnight Care for My Family to Look Like?
When considering overnight care as a new family, consider things that are important to you besides the obvious being sleep. Once you determine what your wants and needs are, it will help you to decide if hiring a postpartum doula or a night nurse/nanny is best for you. I would say the main differences are that a doula is more holistic to the entire family and a night nurse/nanny is exclusively for the baby. If you really just need care for the baby without any extras, then maybe you save a little money and hire a night nurse/nanny. If you want someone with more in depth training who can also teach you as well, then a doula would be the way to go. If you need laundry done for just the baby, hire a night nurse/nanny, if you need it done for the whole family, hire a doula. A doula can also do light housework and cover sibling care as well.
On my typical nights as a doula, I try to cover the education component upon my arrival so that parents can head off to bed soon after. During this time, we review the highs and lows of the day and how the family is doing mentally, physically and emotionally. Once were done and I've settled baby down to sleep, I do any light housework that needs to be done. Housework tends to be lighter at night to keep noise levels low and so that I can also sleep when baby sleeps so I'm energized and alert for when baby is back up. So for example, I might throw in a load of laundry and then switch it over to the dryer on the babys next wakeup (if a third wakeup, maybe fold and put away), I may wipe down services and sweep up. While I may not be clanking around in a dishwasher, I may wash a few dishes in the sink, do light meal prep, make mom a snack and get her water and take garbage out with me on my way out in the morning.
Feeding choices can also dictate the flow of the night as well, so its important to provide unbiased support because new moms may feel tired and overwhelmed trying to navigate breastfeeding or may feel sad if they have to do a bottle. When a mom is breastfeeding in the night, I bring her baby to her so that she doesn't even have to get out of bed and I either stay with her if she wants to troubleshoot or I give her privacy- her choice, no pressure! I also do the burping, diaper changing and if were doing bottle feeding, I do that as well. If I'm bottle feeding, I'll soak the bottles in warm soapy water overnight and, set my alarm for 15 minutes before my shift is about to end and then clean them out so the family is ready for the next day.
Lastly, if you're not doing a shared app with the family to record all important happenings of the night, do your own notes app that you date, write times baby ate, how baby ate, how much baby ate, for how long baby ate, what kind of diaper baby had and any recommendations and observations you may have. Send this note to parents before driving away in your car in the morning so they don't have to try to remember where to pick up