The reality is that the great majority of us entered the in-home childcare industry for two main reasons: We saw a need and we felt a strong desire to help families have the best childcare possible. One of the big ways you as an agency can meet the needs of today’s busy families and significantly increase your agency income is to help families learn about and utilize the services of a Newborn Care Specialist.
A recent article out of the UK cited a study that lists chronic sleep deprivation as a major contributor to Post-Partum Mood Disorders (commonly called Post-Partum Depression). We as a Western culture have a standard that expects new moms to step up and do it all after a baby comes home and to be up at night taking care of their needs as well. This expectation of “doing it all” vs. resting is leading to chronic sleep deprivation and is considered a strong possible contributor to Post-Partum Mood Disorders. A well-trained Newborn Care Specialist can come in day or night (or both) and help relieve a new mother of some of that responsibility and allow her to get much needed rest. A post-partum mother who receives adequate rest is better able to recover from childbirth and is also less likely to suffer the negative and sometimes devastating effects of a Post-Partum Mood Disorder. Not only can a well-trained NCS provide opportunities for a new mother to get that rest, but she can also help a new mother learn how to care for her baby, recognize signs of problems and provide proper guidance in enhancing a child’s natural sleep rhythms, thus allowing for the strong possibility that her new baby will be sleeping through the night by approximately 12 weeks of age. This can make her transition into new motherhood and/or returning to the workforce a much more pleasant experience.
Recently we worked with one of our training partner agencies to help them introduce the concept of utilizing an NCS to their clients who were expecting a baby. With our assistance, they were able to clearly explain to a client the benefits of not only hiring a nanny, but also utilizing the more flexible services of a trained NCS in the first few weeks of life and the agency ended up placing a Newborn Care Solutions trained NCS ($9K placement fee to the agency) AND a nanny (another fee!) with the family. This family, who had prior never considered an NCS, ended up hiring not one, but two candidates through the agency, because of the agency simply understanding better how to explain the benefits of a properly trained NCS to the family.
So, again, I ask, is your agency regularly and successfully placing Newborn Care Specialists? And if your answer is “no”, then I would ask, “Why not?” Your agency can be more regularly placing Newborn Care Specialists with only a little more effort on your part than you currently put into nanny placements. A clear, well thought out plan to regularly introduce the concept to your client families will result in more NCS placements and more income to your agency. But it is critical that you understand the role and distinction of a well-trained NCS vs. a nanny and how to clearly explain the benefits of an NCS to client families. You as an agency want to help families and you want to generate income—placing well-trained Newborn Care Specialists is a great way to do just that!
For more information on becoming a Newborn Care Solutions training partner agency or for a consultation to improve your agencies NCS placement process, please contact us at www.newborncaresolutions.com. And be sure to sign-up for our FREE guidebook “7 tips to Increase Newborn Care Placements in Your Nanny Agency”