Maternity Nurse qualifications

Maternity Nurse provides you with an invaluable source of support and knowledge once you have had your baby and arrived home.

Their aim is to leave you feeling relaxed, happy and fully prepared for the future stages in your baby's development. At this time you are likely to be very tired and possibly unsure of how to deal with all the demands that a new baby can make. A Maternity Nurse will give you the confidence to cope quickly and help you to develop the routines that will be best for you and your family over time. 

Not all Maternity Nurses have a formal qualification; most nurses tend to be very experienced nannies with extensive experience with newborn babies. Although there hasn’t been a specific Maternity Nurse qualification until recently, listed below are some of the qualifications that are recognised and appropriate to the profession:

• Registered General Nurse (RGN)
• Registered Sick Children’s Nurse (RSCN)
• Registered Midwife (RM)
• Registered Health Visitor (RHV)
• Cache level 3 - old NNEB certificate (National Nursery Examination Board)
• Diploma in Nursery Nursing
• Midwifery & Nursing Diplomas, certificates and degrees
• BTEC and NVQ in Childcare
• City & Guilds (Caring Services)
  
• NAMCW - National Association of Maternal and Child Welfare
  
• Maternity Practitioner Award (MNT)
  

The more recent Maternity Nanny Training (MNT) 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.

Maternity Nurses 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.

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