A postpartum nurse cares for new babies and their mothers after birth. When the delivery dust settles, the whole family moves out of their labor and delivery suite to a new unit. Here, their postpartum nurse can monitor the baby and birth mom, educate parents on how to care for their new little one, and make sure they’re ready to go home in a few days.
Postpartum nurses get experience with a unique array of patient ages since they care for both newborns and adults. After giving birth, incisions need checking, catheters need removal, and pain requires medications and ice…lots of ice! Newborn babies often need medical care and monitoring in the first few days after birth. Sometimes they also need a generous postpartum nurse to snuggle them while they chart so their parents can get a few hours of sleep.
Where Do Postpartum Nurses Work?
Typically, postpartum nurses work in hospitals and birthing centers. They can work in small community hospitals and sprawling teaching hospitals in an urban area. Some clinics and private practices hire postpartum nurses to treat newborns soon after they come home from the hospital, but most nurses in this specialty will find work in a facility where babies are delivered.
Birthing centers have grown in popularity in recent years. As of 2021, 400 birthing centers operate in the United States. The difference between hospital maternity units and birthing centers involves:
Medication use
Home vs. clinical environment
Midwife vs. obstetrician care
One birthing center in Brooklyn, NY, states they offer “high-quality, family-centered care, allowing healthy women the freedom and flexibility to have their unmedicated birth in a calm, home-like environment.”
The biggest distinction between hospitals and birthing centers will be seen by labor and delivery nurses. Postpartum nurses who work in a birthing center will do much the same as their hospital counterparts. Both hospitals and birthing centers encourage breastfeeding if possible, and monitor the birth parent’s and baby’s medical status in the days after birth.
What Does a Postpartum Nurse Do?
Postpartum nurses treat “couplets” – mothers and their babies – from a few hours after birth until it’s time to go home. During a shift, a postpartum nurse is assigned three or four couplets at a time, depending on the unit. A postpartum nurse assignment is unique because they care for mothers and newborns. For nursing care of the mother, common tasks include:
Collaborating with physicians, nurse practitioners, patients, and families
Collecting laboratory samples of blood and other bodily fluids
Coordinating care with other departments
Emergency resuscitation
Head-to-toe assessment
Keeping patients clean and comfortable
Massaging uterine fundus to ensure clotting
Monitoring and taking vital signs
Patient and family education
Providing infant care education
Removing foley catheters
Starting and accessing IVs
Transporting patients
Mom makes up only half of your couplet. The new baby needs specialized care, too. When caring for newborns, postpartum nurse tasks include:
24-hour newborn screening
Administering medications
Collaborating with physicians, nurse practitioners, patients, and families
Collecting laboratory samples of blood and other bodily fluids
Coordinating care with other departments
Emergency resuscitation
Head-to-toe assessment
Infant care education
Keeping the baby clean and comfortable
Manage phototherapy for newborns with jaundice
Newborn care
Transporting patients
Patients in a postpartum unit often go home within a few days. Because of the rapid turnover, a large part of a postpartum nurse’s job is managing admissions and discharges, which keeps the day fast-paced.
A couplet doesn’t always look the same. Sometimes the birth mother has served as a surrogate for another couple, and may not spend much time with the baby. Other times, the baby will be placed for adoption, but no adoptive parents have been arranged at the time of birth. Whatever the family dynamic and circumstances, postpartum nurses must treat their patients with respect and compassion.
How Do I Become a Postpartum Nurse?
An aspiring postpartum nurse must first graduate from an accredited nursing program with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). A BSN can take the traditional four years to complete, but some schools offer accelerated programs that can be done in as little as a year.
After completing their education, nurses can apply to a postpartum unit as new graduates. New nurses pair with a preceptor. Preceptors are experienced nurses on the unit who teach new nurses the ropes.
Before a graduate nurse (GN) can become a registered nurse (RN), they must pass the NCLEX-RN. A series of multiple-choice questions, this standardized test demonstrates a nurse’s clinical knowledge and capability to work independently.
After a postpartum nurse passes the NCLEX, they may still need to finish their orientation period, which is decided by unit management. When a nurse’s preceptor and manager give the thumbs-up, they can take their own patient assignments. Some hospitals require their postpartum nurses to have an Electronic Fetal Monitoring certification, even though this monitoring happens during labor and childbirth.
Once postpartum nurses have gained a few years of experience, they can test to receive the Maternal Newborn Nursing (RNC-MNN) certification. To be eligible for the RNC-MNN, a postpartum nurse must have:
A current RN license
24 months of specialized experience as a US or Canadian RN AND
A minimum of 2000 hours of experience
Specialty experience completed in the last 24 months
How Much Does a Postpartum Nurse Make Per Year?
Postpartum nurses make about the same as an RN in any other specialty. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports registered nurses (RNs) make an average of $81,220 per year as of 2022. This amount can vary depending on your work setting and the cost of living in the area. The low-end average is $61,250, and the high-end is $129,400.
Depending on where you live and work, your employer may offer higher or lower compensation. The west coast generally pays nurses the best, but they also have a higher cost of living.
The west coast, New England states, Minnesota, and Alaska pay postpartum nurses the highest wage, but the cost of living in these areas can also be high. The lowest paying states are in the Midwest and some southeastern states.
The top paying areas for postpartum nurses include:
Federal Way, WA: $114,802
Santa Clara, CA: $112,774
San Francisco, CA: $112,461
Washington, DC: $110,194
Los Angeles, CA: $109,885
San Jose, CA: $109,620
Fremont, CA: $108,916
San Buenaventura, CA: $108,294
Oakland, CA: $108,215
Marysville, WA: $107,742
Certified postpartum nurses can be paid more than a nurse who is not certified, depending on the facility. In general, the more experience and proof of expertise, the more a postpartum nurse will be eligible to earn.
Are Postpartum Nurses in High Demand?
Health facilities in the US need more nurses, and the postpartum specialty is no exception. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, 24% of US hospitals have reported critical staffing shortages. And births are picking back up. According to the Centers for Disease Control, after a 4% decline in US birth rates from 2019 to 2020, the numbers are now on the rise. More births in the US will make room for more postpartum nursing jobs.
Additional Resources About Becoming a Postpartum Nurse
To learn more about becoming a postpartum nurse, these additional resources may help:
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