Job Duties

• The specific duties of a maternity nurse might include monitoring a birthing mother's vital signs and contractions, identifying false labor, administering pain medication and intravenous fluids, monitoring the vital signs of the baby and keeping birthing mothers comfortable. They may also weigh and examine the newborn, clean and monitor the mother postpartum, assist the mother in breastfeeding and changing diapers, and teach new parents how to care for the baby. Nurses in neonatal units oversee the specialized care of premature infants. Some maternity nurses train to become nurse-midwives, who provide prenatal care to pregnant women and oversee the labor and delivery in lieu of a doctor.
  
  

Educational Requirements

• Maternity nurses are usually registered nurses (RNs), as opposed to licensed practical nurses (LPNs). Achieving certification as an RN requires either an associate or bachelor's degree in nursing and passing marks in the national nursing licensing examination (NCLEX-RN exam). Nurse-midwives need a master's degree.
  
  Many community colleges offer an associate degree in nursing that takes two years to complete. Many colleges, universities and medical schools offer a bachelor's degree in nursing. The bachelor's degree takes four years to finish but is more prestigious and usually leads to higher salaries and increased chances for promotion. It is also possible to first earn an LPN diploma or associate degree, start working as a nurse, and then join an accelerated LPN-to-RN or RN-to-BSN program.
  
  

Home Nursing

• In England, the term "maternity nurse" can refer to what Americans call a "baby nurse," someone who works in the home of a family with a newborn, helping to care for the baby. Families might hire such a nurse because the baby or mother is ill, to allow the new parents more time to rest, to assist with establishing sleep and food schedules, or breastfeeding consultation. The level of nursing education required for this job depends on the agency for which you work.
  
  In the United States, some maternity nurses work for state agencies that provide prenatal care for low-income mothers, either in community clinics or in patients' homes.
  
  

Salary

• Your salary as a maternity nurse depends on your geographic location, specific employer, type of degree and years of experience. According to the 2010-11 Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U.S Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nurses of all kinds (there is no separate category for maternity nurses) earned a median salary of $63,880 per year. About a fifth of registered nurses are members of a labor union.
  
  

Career Outlook

• The need for maternity nurses may change as the birth rate changes in different locations. Other factors that might affect the career outlook for maternity nurses is the increasingly short hospital stays for new mothers, the increasing ages at which women give birth, and the increasing popularity of birthing at home.
  
  In general, job prospects for registered nurses in all specialties are strong, not because new jobs are opening but because the nursing population is aging and there are not enough new nursing students to fill the emptying positions. Nurse-midwives especially could be in high demand "particularly in medically underserved areas such as inner cities and rural areas."