night nurse with newborn twins anyone?

SFHOME

hi! i have 2 little ones and two on the way (due 8/26/13)! Our daughter will be 4 and some months, and our son will be 2 when babies are born. I have heard of people using night nurses to help with the brutal sleep deprivation that I am expecting soon! i wondered:

- has anyone used a night nurse and would you be willing to share your experiences?

- how many hours did you have them each night?

- how many nights per week?

- how many weeks?

- how much did you pay?

 Was it a positive experience for you? trying to do a little research now since I understand they book up quickly.

 thanks!! 

emilyec1

We considered getting one, but since I was breastfeeding I figured I'd have to be up often anyway, so we opted for daytime help instead. We had a postpartum doula (a nanny in between positions) come for a few hours during the day. We paid her $12 an hour, but night nurses would be much more I'm sure. Sorry, that wasn't of much help! GL!

SFHOME

thanks. and I should have added that - i will not be breastfeeding (have a condition that made it impossible with my first two, so that is out; will be formula babies)... 

curious to hear if any others have any experience. thanks!! 

lynn0926

My sister is doing this on a short term basis for a set of her nicu twins. The family has a night nurse 4 nights a week. She is getting $20 an hour under the table, 10PM-6AM. This is in the Chicago area. 

caden

I used a postpartum doula one night a week. If I had the money I would have had her come every night. I looked forward to her night SOOOOO much. I am a SAHM and had very little help during the day. My boys had awful acid reflux and feeding them was so stressful for me, especially when they were newborns (and preemies) and I couldn't tandem feed b/c it took both hands to keep one baby awake and feeding well. 

I can't remember what hours she came. Something like 10p-7a IIRC. I did it until my boys STTN, which was around 3m. I paid $20/hr. ETA: She didn't just take care of my babies - she did dishes, cleaned my first floor, did laundry, and organized stuff. Did I mention how much I looked forward to her night?

tirsabel

We had a night nurse come before doctor's appointments for my baby A's clubfeet since those days were stressful and long becuase of the appointment location, etc.  then we had one come the nights when I would be alone the next day.  i breastfed/pumped but STILL found it helpful because early on, we made the decision that at night i would just pump when they fed and during the day we would breastfeed. 

we went through an agency because i didn't have any personal reccs and found myself nervous about having someone there when essentially we would all be sleeping and just found having the agency support was helpful since we didn't have any other reccomendation to go on.   we had her come between 8-10 hours a night depending on the night.  i thought it was very helpful to have them come, but my husband found it like his lifeline because he does not do good with sleep deprivation.

the going rates in our area (washington dc) is around 24-30/hour for non-RN night "nurse".  RN rates are anywhere between 30-40/hour.  if we didn't go through a agency i'm sure it could have been a little cheaper than that.

I wish wish wish we had $ to have them come more often, though I enjoyed the MOTN feeds at times, bonding, etc our babies have not been great sleepers and one of them has reflux/colic and is a very stressful feed, and sometimes we just needed the rest to function the next day.

Temp123197812503460

we had one from an agency on occasion (probably 5 times over the first 8 months).  It was worth it as something to look forward to, we often scheduled it when we got really desperate and didn't know how we were going to survive

 

When they were really little she would bring them to me and I would nurse, but it was still worth it as just nursing was faster than nursing, changing, burping, getting them back to sleep, etc.   When they were older and I was confident in my supply I would just get up once to pump (again still worth it vs the 3+ wakeups every night).

Wetoneses

What agency did you use?  I'm wondering how to go about finding a night nurse.  Thanks again!

 

jcath

I think if you can afford it you should absolutely do it!

We had a night nanny come on Tuesdays and Thursday nights from the time the girls were 2 weeks old until 8 weeks.  My dh would help on the weekends and my parents would come on mornings so I could sleep late.

I really enjoyed every second of my maternity leave and give lots of credit to having this plan in place so that I never got so sleep deprived I couldn't see straight.  

There are lots of agencies that will place night nurses or nannys, my local multiples club has recommendations and I got the recommendation from another MoM.   

leapgirl8

We had a postpartum doula 2 nights a week for the first month. It was fantastic and absolutely worth the money. We both got sleep and she also just provided a lot of advice and reassurance - we didn't know what we were doing, and yeah we would have been fine, but having someone there to answer questions was almost as valuable as the sleep I can't remember what we paid - overnight help isn't cheap, which is why we only did it for a month. 

Lil Kate

Not sure where you live but calm baby rn is amazing and provide a variety of services in Nj.  they helped us with sleep issues with our boys and are considering using their night nurse service.

sun&sea

My twins are 2 weeks old and I have a two year old daughter (& a husband who works long hours). I live In a fairly small town so night nurses/ doulas aren't readily available here. However, I do have help at night. A local college student with drive and a hard work ethic. She works Sunday through Thursday night from 10pm - 6am (sometimes less depending on feeding schedule).  She will either bottle feed one of the twins or bring them to breast feed. She will change their diaper, burp them, get them back to sleep, wash bottles, pump supplies, etc. I pay 10 dollars an hour. Although she is not experienced she is still a big help and allows me to peacefully get a few hours of sleep at night which is very nice and well worth it!