updated, April 1, 2023 – We began franchising in 2016 and proudly remain the only overnight newborn care franchise in America! What began as a simple service in Washington DC has now grown to 11 locations nationwide. Read our Night Nurse Franchise Updates below!
Night Nurse Franchise Updates
Here at Let Mommy Sleep Franchising, our Registered Nurses and Newborn Care Providers support brand new parents as much as we support their babies. We’re bringing this detailed model of evidence-based teaching and newborn care to families across the country. In addition to caring for others, franchise partners have the time and means to be present for their own families. Ownership means working from home while contributing financially to your own family. We call this a circle of success for families.
We currently service these locations:
Washington DC
Northern & Central NJ
Chicago
Boise, ID
Dallas
Houston
Las Vegas
Loudoun Co, VA
Tampa and Orlando FL
Boca Raton, FL
Philadelphia
San Antonio
Wichita
What’s different about us?
We are 100% woman owned and operated. This wasn’t done on purpose, we just happen to match the demographics of the child care and nursing professions. These are both overwhelmingly staffed by women.
The overriding mission of Let Mommy Sleep is to work together with families, nurses, caregivers, corporations and local businesses to truly raise the standards and accountability in postpartum care.
Besides having local offices, our Nurses and team members contribute to local and national media.
Our curriculum was awarded a government contract and taught from 2015-2020, ending when covid forced closures of public school facilities. The same coursework is now taught online as well as to families.
Our non-profit, Mission Sleep is back up and running! We provide free, overnight newborn care to families whose babies arrive when a parent is deployed, wounded or deceased.
Why We Decided to Franchise
The words “certified” and “accredited” are used often in business to market providers as trained and professional. However, there is little oversight on the use of these terms. In child care, the only legally protected title is “Nurse,” referring to Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical or Vocational Nurses. Other licensed professionals in healthcare are licensed by and accountable to their state’s Board of Nursing. In other words, there is accountability in healthcare.
We would like to bring this same level of accountability to the newborn care industry to help families and elevate caregivers. Our goal is to make the franchising the training and concepts at Let Mommy Sleep the industry standard. We will continue to pursue licensing but in the meantime make the LMS brand trusted by new parents and families.
We’ve been caring for babies and their families since 2010, and are often asked about how to start working in newborn care. The good news is that there are lots of opportunities to help newborns and their families! This blog, Night Nanny or Baby Nurse: How-To Get Your Dream Job! details how to become a newborn care provider. We also talk about what it’s like to work at Let Mommy Sleep!
Night Nanny or Baby Nurse: How-To Get Your Dream Job! – How Do I Become a Night Nanny?
Experience: Experience is probably the most important part of becoming a night nanny. Being comfortable with newborns and baby care is something that only comes from having worked “on the job.” Experience can come from being a parent, friend, nanny, daycare center worker or hospital nursery. If you don’t have this experience you can find a mentor or shadow an experienced caregiver to get your own experience.
Newborn Care Training Certificate – Remain up to date and understand current safety and care protocols. Online certificate training such as the Newborn and Postpartum Care course at Teachable’s Newborn Care Academy are a must-have. Completing this type of certificate course demonstrates to perspective families that you understand SIDS prevention, safety, feeding, soothing and sleep expectations.
How Much Does a Night Nanny Make?
It definitely depends on your area of the country, but a good rule of thumb is that a Night Nanny can expect to earn several dollars more per hour than a Certified Nursing Assistant or Home Health Aide. Night Nannies don’t typically work with medical devices but the rate of pay is usually on par or better than traditional home health agency rates.
How Much Does a Baby Nurse Make?
We use the term Baby Nurse in the legally protected sense, referring to Registered Nurses (RN) or Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN). These Nurses can expect to make between $24 and $40 per hour for overnight care, depending on where they live in the US. For teaching Baby Basics classes and performing postpartum visits at Let Mommy Sleep, Nurses earn $50 per hour.
What Does a Night Nanny Do All Night?
What’s the Difference Between a Postpartum Doula and a Night Nanny?
The word doula is an ancient one that has come to mean “mother the mother.” (It actually means “female slave” but that’s for another post!) While this scope has certainly been expanded to include all family members, the spirit of support is still the same. As the Doulas of North America (DONA) website says, Postpartum doulas understand what everyone needs, and part of their role is to help the entire family adjust and settle in. This can mean cooking, nannying toddlers and older kids and performing household tasks. Because of the focus on the household, postpartum doulas can offer support at night, but typically work during the day.
What is a birth doula?
The two most highly regarded organizations that educate birth and postpartum doulas are DONA International and Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association (CAPPA). Both offer education, certification and ongoing training. However, it’s important to note that while certified, birth and postpartum doulas are not licensed. Certified Nurse Midwives (CNF) and Certified Midwives (CM) are the only birth professionals aside from physicians and nurses, regulated and legally recognized on the state level.
In contrast, a night nanny typically works overnight. While some household tasks can be done overnight, the focus is on allowing the entire family to sleep. This sounds simple but is crucial to the families health.
Restful nights allow parents to be present during the day, not just for their newborns but for older kids and work.
Unless they hold a clinical license such as Certified Nursing Assistant or Home Health Aide (aside from nurses), a Night Nanny may not be licensed. For this reason it’s a good idea to hold certificates in newborn care, safety and lactation.
Night Nanny or Baby Nurse: How-To Get Your Dream Job! – What’s the Difference Between a Baby Nurse and a Postpartum Doula?
This is an easy one! The term “Nurse” is legally protected in most states. So calling someone a baby nurse means that they are a Registered Nurse (RN), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) focusing on prenatal, neonatal or postnatal care. While these days the term Baby Nurse might be seen as outdated by some, there’s no denying it’s become a generic term for “newborn expert,” the same way the word tissue is interchangeable with Kleenex and no matter the brand, every icy treat is called a Popsicle!
What’s it Like to Work at Let Mommy Sleep?
Working at Let Mommy Sleep means you will typically work from 10pm-6am. During this time you’re diapering, swaddling, soothing and feeding the newborn. You’re also providing evidence-based education to their families. As baby gets older and is able to sleep longer stretches through the night, we help baby to sleep independently. We often care for twins and triplets as well. The overnight shift is not for everyone, but it’s an intimate, peaceful way to support families. Providers do this job for deep personal satisfaction, to gain experience while they are in nursing school and to have quality time with their own families.
Here’s what Let Mommy Sleep offers you:
Flexible scheduling – You make your own schedule and can work as little or as much as you like. We also love our PRN team!
A wonderful team to support you – Every LMS owner is a Registered Nurse, Licensed Clinician or Postpartum Specialist. We know what it’s like to work in the field because we’ve all done it too!
Make a difference by educating and caring for families who are transitioning home with their newborns.
Patient ratio of 1:1 or 1:2 😄
Pay is on the upper end of CNA and Home Health Care rates in each city. Registered Nurses can expect $25 -$35 per hour (depending on which city they’re in).
Teach Baby Basics classes or conduct 1-2 hour Postpartum Visits.
Free education and continuing education certificates
We are here for you!
What can I do to prepare for a career as a Night Nanny?
Get Vaccinated: We understand people have different feelings about the COVID vaccine. But the truth is we’ve never met a family that wanted an unvaccinated newborn caregiver. Get the vaccine, update your flu-shot and at the very least update your MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) and TDaP (Tetanus, Diptheria and Pertussis). These are universal recommendations from pediatricians.
Stay Educated: There’s still no nationally recognized certification for newborn care providers. Yes there are certificates, but that is different than certification where there is a governing body to accept complaints and feedback. For this reason it’s crucial to remain up to date on American Academy of Pediatrics feeding, care, safety and safe sleep recommendations.
Further that Education: You can attend sleep training, lactation or early childhood education classes to further your training.
Get Comfortable with Babies and Parents: There’s no substitute for experience so care for newborns and infants whenever you can! Ask questions, find a mentor or volunteer your time. We can help you with this!
Infant & Child CPR Certification: Regular CPR class is great- infant CPR class is even better for working in newborn care.
Night Nanny or Baby Nurse: How-To Get Your Dream Job! Apply Now!
If you’re ready to apply for a position with us, complete an application in your city here. Or send your resume to: care(at)letmommysleep.com. You can also visit us on Indeed and read what current and former staff have to say!
Night Nanny or Baby Nurse: How-To Get Your Dream Job!
updated January 9, 2023 – Balancing responsible and safe internet use for kids is an ongoing challenge for parents. In addition to age- appropriate content, there’s blue-light and screentime limits to worry about. How to Activate Parental Controls on Your Child’s Devices shares info on making screens a little safer for infants, toddlers and older kids.
Kids and Screentime- First Thing’s First
There’s no substitute for parental involvement when it comes to screen time use and children. Research shows this is especially true for infants now that we know that screens affect development. The true protections from screens are:
Do not allow screens at all for your newborn and infant’s health and development
Activate parental controls but continue ongoing involvement and monitoring of your child’s computer use
Making sure your kids understand they can talk to you about something they’ve seen that’s inappropriate
Newborns, Infant and Toddlers and Screens
Simply put, according the all major research, babies should not be exposed to computers, televisions and phones.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) for example recently found that “screen exposure at 12 months of age was associated with a 2-fold increased odds” of future sensory processing disorders. This is in addition to the AAP’s long standing recommendation of that babies younger than 18 months get no screen time at all because babies’ brains are still developing.
How to Activate Parental Controls on Your Child’s Devices – Apple Devices
Parents can choose what content is suitable and what’s not by accessing the area called Screentime in the iPhone/iPad Settings. In “Screentime” you’ll see that restrictions can be set to filter out explicit material, but don’t stop there. Filtering out explicit material is good of course, but you can go deeper in to the Content Restriction area to control access to specific types of media. Here’s what we mean:
go to Settings
click Screentime
select Content and Privacy Restrictions
hit Content Restrictions
At the bottom of this screen you’ll be able to click “Use Screen Time Passcode” to enter a 4-digit passcode to access the next section. This is a different passcode than the one used to open the phone and should only be known by the parent.
After choosing and confirming your passcode, you can access Content Restrictions and choose what ratings you feel are appropriate for: Movies (R, PG-13, PG, G), Books (clean or explicit), Apps, TV and Music (all ages, age 7+, age 14+).
In addition to obvious adult content sites, you might consider blocking sites a child could accidentally stumble upon. Reddit for example, isn’t a site my 12 year old will actively seek out, but popular news and memes often originate there. So Reddit threads may come up first in search results for “funny cat meme,” or another innocent search. Clicking on that search result puts him on Reddit which is fine in itself, but now he’s literally 1 click away from content inappropriate for his age.
How to Activate Parental Controls on Your Child’s Devices – ChromeBooks and Android Devices:
Schools are increasingly requiring Chromebooks for elementary and middle schoolers and because of their price are a common choice for younger users. Chromebooks allow teachers to communicate with the class and monitor learning app use and help kids to learn basic computer skills by completing writing assignments via GoogleDocs.
Here’s how to keep a Chromebook safe:
1. Since Google is the default search engine, be sure SafeSearch is enabled (see above).
2. In order to block websites or content, a Chromebook requires the installation of “Chrome extensions” which are separate applications that can be dowloaded or purchased from the GooglePlay store. As the name implies, this is just like Apple’s App Store and works the same way:
– To access GooglePlay, simply type it into the Google browser.
– Type “website blockers” into the GooglePlay search field.
– You’ll see 5-10 choices of content blocking Apps that are free to download. Once you download them, you are able to type in specific sites or words to block. Once downloaded, these Apps can be accessed in the device’s settings and will also stay in the top right corner of the web browser. BlockSite is the most popular App but there is no harm in downloading as many as you like.
Activate Parental Controls on iPhone and iPad
Use a Parental Control Device like Gryphon
What’s Gryphon?Gryphon is a free-standing device that is placed in the home and requires download of an app to set up. The WiFi Parental Control app allows you to filter inappropriate content, view each devices browsing history and suspend internet use. You can also set screen time limits.
How is this device used? In addition to easy-to-use parental controls, the Gryphon gives all of your devices an extra layer of network safety by blocking ransomware and malware from coming in your home’s network. It protects your internet from hackers (no one will be able to access your baby monitor), but also manages and restricts access on each device. There were other items similar to Gryphon like Koala Safe or the Circle by Disney but those items have been discontinued.
Can it protect our devices too? The nice thing about this device is that parents can control all their kids devices from one central location so your 7 year old can have different restrictions than your 14 year old. Additionally the Gryphon offers malware protection for all connected devices.
Gryphon Parental Control System
How to Activate Parental Controls on Your Child’s Devices to Make Google Safer:
Click “settings” (located in the lower right corner on a computer, and in the 3 horizontal bars on the upper left on a phone.
Click “Filter explicit results” if using a phone.
Check the “Turn on SafeSearch” box on Safe Search Filters on a computer.
Make sure Google Search settings are in SafeSearch mode
Filtering YouTube Content:
We’ve written before about YouTube Kids and how it’s mostly safe, but videos depicting suicide, sex and violence can still get through. Curb this from happening by doing the following:
On YouTube Kids Turn Auto-Play Mode OFF the: located in the upper right hand of your screen turning auto-play OFF ensures kids don’t get taken down the wrong path by having videos continually running.
Keep Restricted Mode ON when using regular YouTube. This is found under Settings on YouTube.com.
YouTube’s algorithm isn’t perfect. With millions of videos uploaded every day and filters need time to check each one, questionable content definitely gets through. When videos are posted and then shared, each new version is another video YouTube needs to “catch”.
Your Family Screentime Plan
Even with every protection in place, it’s likely inevitable that your child will be exposed to inappropriate content for their age. This is because of the sheer amount of content being produced and because you’re depending on every device your child encounters has protections in place. If kids are playing on devices together, it’s okay to ask other parents what their screen time rules are. Insisting that devices be used while parents are present and keeping an eye on kids’ activity shows kids that the internet is a serious place. Parents can have expectations of kids’ behavior online just like in the real world.
For more guidance implementing sensible internet rules, check out the AAP’s Family Media Use Plan for families.
Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor is board certified in Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology, and Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine. Currently, she serves as the medical director of hyperbaric medicine at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. She is co-medical director of National Capital Poison Center. Below Dr. Johnson Arbor shares expertise on how parents can avoid poisons and also the ways to contact Poison Control such as through The Poison Control App if needed.
3 Ways to Contact Poison Control
Best Advice from Dr. Johnson-Arbor
Below are Dr. Johnson-Arbor’s best pieces of advice for anyone with children in their care.
Older infants and toddlers love to explore their surroundings, and this is natural and normal behavior for young children. Because of this, it’s very important for parents and caregivers to keep all potentially dangerous substances up, away, and out of sight of young children. Even common household products that appear harmless, such as a box of baking soda left on a countertop or a tube of toothpaste stored on the bathroom sink, can be poisonous if swallowed by young children. Babies and toddlers are smart and can often open even child-proof containers, so there is no substitution for adult supervision and vigilance!
Even though we try to be as careful as possible as parents, accidental exposures to poisonous products occur every day. When this happens, Poison Control is available for free, confidential, and expert advice. Parents and caregivers should prepare for possible poisoning emergencies by having the contact information for Poison Control readily available. Here are the 3 ways to do that:
How to Contact Poison Control
Download the free POISONCONTROL app to your smartphone
Bookmark the website www.poison.org – bonus- they post safety tips every day!
Save the toll-free phone number for Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) on your list of phone contacts.
Safety tips like this are posted everyday on poison.org
Holiday BabyProofing
In addition to babyproofing your own home, don’t forget to baby and child proof caregivers’ homes as well. The holidays are such a busy time, but when traveling for the holidays with kids and babies, take time to make sure the destination is safe.
There’s no substitute for keeping a watchful eye on your child and this is not an exhaustive safety list, but here are 8 holiday-specific tips to help when visiting a home that may not be already baby proofed:
Bring outlet covers.
Put medications/hazardous items out of reach.
Tie up cords.
Gate stairways.
Take care around pets.
Watch out for boiling pots & hot items while cooking.
Be sure there’s a flat, safe sleeping area for baby.
While there are four types of tongue-tie in babies, it is rarely a medical problem. However, being born with a slightly limited range of motion in the tongue can make feeding difficult. Karen King, PCD-DONA, CLC explains how this easy-to-fix condition presents below in What’s Tongue Tie?
While there are four types of tongue-tie in babies, tongue-tie –or baby being born with a slightly limited range of motion in the tongue- is rarely serious. Additionally, it is much more common than generally thought. And while tongue-tie is typically very easy to fix, it does lead to frustrating feeds because baby is not able to get a strong latch on breast or bottle.
Babies with tongue tie are able to drink, but not as efficiently as they could be. They are getting enough milk/formula to keep them interested in feeding and often fall asleep before they are full because they are working so hard to get milk. Additionally they may take in unnecessary air, due to their limited latch, which causes them to have excess gas and a reflux misdiagnosis.
Posterior tongue-tie is the most common presentation of tongue tie, and there are three quick ways to tell if baby is tongue-tied. If any of the three below is present, ask a pediatrician for an ear, nose & throat referral so the ENT doctor can give baby a proper diagnosis and help.
What’s Tongue Tie?
Ways to tell if baby has a Posterior Tongue Tie:
1.Give baby your pinky and let her suck on the tip to see what her latch looks like. If the back of her tongue goes up in a little hump, that is indicative of tongue tie. A proper latch will be tongue enveloping your pinky, where her tongue wraps around the pinky.
2. For breastfeeding moms, examine your nipple- if a red circular spot is present on your nipple, it indicates baby’s tongue is rubbing back and forth in that one area which shows TT. There is enough milk coming out to keep baby feeding but perhaps not enough to satiate baby.
3. Sweep your pinky under baby’s tongue. If you feel a bump where the side-to-side sweep is interrupted, that can be indicative of tongue-tie. If the underside of her tongue is smooth she is not tongue-tied.
Tongue-tie is one of those things in babies that we may not find unless we really look. Once it is corrected baby will nurse and bottle-feed much more efficiently.
