A Maternity Night Nurse will come to your home around 10:00pm and leave in the morning around 7:00am.

If your baby is being bottle fed she will prepare any bottles that may be needed overnight and will wash and sterilise any that you may have used during the day.

She will look after your baby overnight, support you in breast feeding or give your baby a bottle of expressed milk or formula while you sleep. She will change the baby’s nappy through the night, wind and settle the baby. In the morning she will make sure that all the bottles are washed and are left sterilising before she leaves.

Where a Maternity Nurse is employed overnight it is unreasonable to expect that they will remain awake all night unless specific circumstances require this. Maternity Night Nurses will usually get some rest when your baby is asleep. However it needs to be recognised that this is broken sleep and most Maternity Night Nurses will go home in the morning for some quality sleep.

It is possible for us to find a Maternity Night Nurse who will stay awake all night and watch your baby while they sleep. This is a waking night and therefore would be charged at a higher hourly rate. The price for this is available upon request.

Domestic Requirements

The Maternity Night Nurse will generally sleep in the same room as the baby so that they are on hand to take care of them.

For a Maternity Night Nurse, we would ask for a bed or a comfortable settee with adequate bedding as the absolute minimum. The bed can be a fold-up or camp bed, but it should have a mattress. Any extra’s such as an en-suite toilet, television etc. are not vital, but appreciated.

The facility for Maternity Night Nurses to make a drink during the night and even to get a biscuit or light snack would also be valued. If a Nurse is coming to you early in the evening, it would only be polite to enquire if they have eaten or require a meal.

Note

If your home follows religious or cultural traditions, then both the Maternity Nurse and Night Owls should be informed of this fact. We respect all faiths, cultures and religious observances and would not want act in any way that might cause offence to you or your family.

Charges and Rates of Pay

Once you made your selection of Maternity Nurse, you will need to confirm the offer of employment to both the Maternity Nurse as well as to Night Owls.

At this stage, Night Owls will send you a service agreement detailing the nights, days or weeks that have been agreed. Included with this will be an invoice confirming the Agency Fee to be charged and identifying the different ways in which this can be paid. We would ask that any Agency Fees are paid within 10 days of the Invoice date.

When you confirm employment to the Maternity Nurse, you will be required to pay them a minimum of one week’s non-refundable deposit for every four week contract period, or part thereof.

Unless the Maternity Nurse is working overseas or you live outside of a 30 mile radius of central London (measured from Charing Cross), you would not generally be required to cover the cost of travel, this is included in the Nurse’s hourly rate. For locations beyond the 30 miles radius of travel the Maternity Nurse may choose to charge the cost of travelling. This could either be charged at the rate of a maximum of 45p / mile or the cost of a second class train ticket. The Maternity Nurse will let you know if this additional cost applies.

If the Maternity Nurse uses her own car to travel to you, wherever you live, you would be required to cover the cost of parking, supply an ‘on-street parking permit’ or space on your drive. In addition, if the hours of employment incur a London Congestion Charge payment, this would also need to be covered.

Maternity Nurses’ rates for working on a Bank Holiday are charged at time and a half. This charge applies to the actual hours worked on the Bank Holiday. In other words if the Bank Holiday is on Monday, the charge would apply for any hours worked commencing midnight Sunday night to midnight Monday night. Where a Maternity Nurse is willing to work on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, this will be charged at double time.

The table below gives a general guide of the prices charged by Day Maternity Nurses. However, the actual rates of pay will vary, depending upon the experience, qualifications and skill of the Nurse. The actual charge for each Maternity Nurse will be confirmed with you, at the time of your enquiry.

Nurse	Average rate per hour single baby		Average rate per hour twins
	From	To	From	To
Night Time Maternity Nurse	£15.00	£20.00	£16.00	£25.00