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Morgan & Mallet is a luxury household staffing agency that places newborn care specialists with families all over the US.
A newborn care specialist is a professional who provides expert care for your baby during the most crucial months of childcare.
Also known as a baby nurse, they help you during the first few months of infancy, while you get much needed rest and recover during this period.
Especially for first-time parents, the newborn stage comes with its own set of adjustments. The first three months involve a lot of sleepless nights worrying over the health and safety of your newborn.
But with the calm and skilled support a newborn care specialist provides, you can rest easy until you find your footing with new care routines.
- 27 newborn care searches across all our offices since 2022
- 41% wanted cover day and night
- 73% wanted the specialist to live in
- 13 weeks the middle length of our fixed-term contracts
Our consultants in our New York, Miami, and Los Angeles offices can find and place a specialist that fits your home dynamic.
Maybe you’re counting down the weeks or maybe your baby’s already here. Either way, a newborn care specialist gives you guidance on childcare until you feel confident.
Over all our offices, 33% of the families who briefed us for newborn care did it before the birth. Where the baby had already arrived, 73% were two months old or younger.
Get in touch today to hire a baby nurse that is fully vetted, that you can trust and is highly experienced.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job briefs, all our offices, July 2022 to July 2025. How we count
What's the difference between a newborn care specialist, a baby nurse and a maternity nurse?
All three labels define the same role, i.e. someone who provides you with childcare support during the newborn stage.
In the US, a newborn care specialist is the modernized title adopted by the industry. There’s even a professional body, the Newborn Care Specialist Association, that certifies people in the role.
Reputable staffing agencies and professionals use this phrase to highlight the candidate’s skills in postpartum care.
Baby nurse is more often used in everyday American speech. It’s an older, familiar term, something you might hear or use in casual conversation with other parents.
Baby nurses usually aren’t licensed nurses, which is why the industry uses the term newborn care specialists to avoid any confusion.
A maternity nurse is the British title for the role, often misunderstood as a registered nurse working in a maternity ward in an American context.
| Title | Where you'll hear it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Newborn care specialist | The modern US title; the Newborn Care Specialist Association certifies it | Postpartum and newborn care skills |
| Baby nurse | Everyday American speech | The same role; usually not a licensed nurse |
| Maternity nurse | The British title | The same role, not a maternity ward nurse |
The use of each term depends on who you ask. Comparing a newborn care specialist and a baby nurse means comparing the same service with two different labels.
A newborn care specialist agency like ourselves understands that the different names are interchangeable and really mean the same role.
Whatever you choose to call it, we search under every name. Since 2022, 63% of our newborn care searches were briefed as maternity nurse jobs and 19% as maternity nanny jobs.
The searches we did for clients in Miami in 2025 were briefed as newborn nanny jobs.
None of those briefs used the words newborn care specialist or baby nurse.
That’s why we write your brief around what you actually need from a hire, the hours, the baby’s age and the feeding plan, instead of just the title.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job ads, all our offices, 2022 to 2025. How we count
What does a newborn care specialist do?
A newborn care specialist looks after every part of your baby’s care while you rest and recover. We’ve learned that feeding and sleeping are the biggest stressors for parents of a newborn.
A newborn care specialist makes sure your baby gets enough nutrition. They establish feeding times for your newborn, supporting you when it comes to breastfeeding help and bottle prep.
We can find and place specialists with Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) and Certified Lactation Educator (CLE) certifications for your newborn as well.
The families we work with ask for this a lot. 37% of our newborn care briefs had breastfeeding support in it, and 19% wrote that the specialist should follow the mother’s own way of doing things.
When it comes to setting sleep schedules, it benefits both your newborn and yourself. A newborn care specialist sets up day and night routines for your baby.
They work in line with the newborn safe-sleep practices as given by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
This way, your baby gets longer stretches of sound sleep while you get much-needed rest that restores your energy.
Sleep was a large part of the brief for obvious reasons. 70% of the briefs we worked on for clients had a sleep routine in the duties, and 33% wanted sleep training.
Two of our Miami briefs in 2025 also asked for someone who could manage colic or reflux.
| In the brief | Share |
|---|---|
| A sleep routine in the duties | 70% |
| Breastfeeding support | 37% |
| Sleep training | 33% |
| Follow the mother's own way of doing things | 19% |
| Twins | 11% |
A newborn care specialist also manages your baby’s health and hygiene by bathing, changing diapers, sterilizing bottles, and looking out for any signs of illness.
As a specialist, they also support your baby’s development through responsive care, gentle stimulation like singing, and tummy time.
Making sure your baby is getting the right care can be stressful, even more so if it is your first time. A newborn specialist can ease your nerves by guiding you through every step of infant care.
For twins or premature babies, having a specialist makes all the difference between anxious and confident parenting.
Twins were part of 11% of our searches for newborn carers. Some of our briefs also covered the mother’s own recovery, like a family in Mill Valley, California, in 2025, who wanted someone experienced in recovery after a C-section.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job briefs, all our offices, 2022 to 2025. How we count
Newborn Care Specialists: Our Numbers
- Maternity nurses are the highest-paid childcare professionals Morgan & Mallet recruits
- Among the hardest roles to fill: a standard newborn care specialist job advert attracts only around 23 applications, so we use our strong database and network
- That’s 38% fewer than the 37 applications our adverts for nannies get on average
- 266 maternity and newborn care specialists in Morgan & Mallet’s network
- Nearly 600 applications reviewed for newborn care specialist roles
- 53% of applications for these jobs came to us directly, not through an advert
Source: Morgan & Mallet recruitment records, maternity nurse job ads in every market, 2023 to 2025, and candidate database, June 2026; Household Staff Industry Report 2026; 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report. How we count
Daytime or 24-hour placements: what do families book?
The schedule of your newborn care specialist depends on what you believe works best for your home.
Our recruiter can guide you to set the perfect schedule depending on how much sleep you need and how long you want the help.
We find that round-the-clock live-in care is the most common option. The newborn care specialist stays at the home day and night with rest breaks in between.
Our newborn care briefs generally have three parts:
Day and night. 41% of searches wanted cover all the time, from 24 hours a day with breaks, to two specialists on a rota.
One 2024 brief asked for 24/7 care on a two to three month contract.
Nights only. 30% needed night cover, such as four nights a week from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
These ads had about 39 applicants each, compared with about 23 for day and night cover.
Days only. 15% wanted set daytime hours. The other 15% left the hours to agree later.
73% of families we worked with wanted the specialist to live in. Let your recruiter know which pattern you would prefer, and we’ll look for people who have the experience working like that.
Our co-founder Laurine Mallet did a live-in newborn job herself and remembers how hard it was without rest:
“This job it was day and night. … I didn’t stay long because I was very tired. It was very very tough actually.”
That rest is what keeps the care strong when the specialist is back with the baby. Our rota nannies who work in shift patterns know this very well.
Daytime support is perfect if you want an extra set of expert hands during the day but prefer to monitor the nights yourself. Here, the specialist works set hours and is then off duty.
Most newborn care specialists stay with the family for the first 12 weeks. Book before your due date if you can. It gives us time to shortlist properly, and your specialist is there from the day you come home.
Our fixed-term briefs do back this up, the middle contract length was 13 weeks.
But it can be made longer if you need. We’ve filled positions for short placements up to six months or long-term roles where the specialist plays a foundational role in your child’s early years.
A couple expecting their first baby came to us nervous about leaving their newborn with someone they didn’t know yet.
They wanted to check every candidate twice, so we ran extra rounds of interviews until they felt certain about the fit. In the end they clicked with one specialist, and she stayed with them for five years.
When the child is older, many families hire a live-in nanny to continue that constant care and reassurance they had with a newborn care specialist.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job briefs and ads, all our offices, July 2022 to July 2025, with 1,257 applications. How we count
How much does a newborn care specialist cost?
Most families book by the week with the standard placements being 12 to 16 weeks long. For a 24-hour live-in role, the weekly rate can run to several thousand dollars.
For a year-round role, you’re paying a salary rather than a weekly rate. The annual salary of a newborn care specialist usually ranges from $90,000 to $150,000 according to our Morgan & Mallet 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report.
In the private households that we recruit for, the US pays the third most for this role, out of the eight countries in our report.
Only the UK and Switzerland pay more, up to $186,031 a year in Switzerland.
Our report calls it a role that “addresses critical, short-term needs.”
| What | Pay |
|---|---|
| A year in the US | $90,000 to $150,000 |
| US place among eight countries | Third |
| Top of the range in Switzerland | $186,031 |
Short-term roles tend to have a higher weekly rate than the salaried equivalent. Pricing 12-week roles at a premium brings you specialists who have done newborn care back to back.
Specialists’ experience pushes the rates higher. Twins, premature babies, and babies with medical complications need someone with clinical training behind them, and that narrows the pool fast.
Experience makes a big difference when it comes to the cost. Where our briefs have a minimum, it was always at least three years, and 45% wanted five years.
In Miami, a newborn nanny job from 2025 was advertised at $30 an hour.
When a family needs medical experience, we check the paperwork as well as the stories.
Asked about families who want medical skills in their staff, our co-founder Morgan Richez says: “And we check the diploma. We check the background. We check the criminal record as well for security reason. And this is a must.”
Where you live also counts. Cities like New York and Los Angeles sit at the top of the range because of their cost of living.
When your family grows, the duties of your newborn care specialist grow too. The candidate stays where they’re appreciated, allowing you and your child to reap the benefits of your ideal specialist for a long time.
The total hiring cost for a newborn care specialist includes employer costs like US payroll taxes and accommodation if it’s a live-in role.
Our recruiters can help you set realistic salaries for your newborn care specialist that are in line with the market.
If you only need cover overnight rather than round-the-clock care, the pricing works differently. You’ll find night rates on our night nanny page.
Source: 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report; Morgan & Mallet newborn care job ads, 2022 to 2025. How we count
How do you vet a newborn care specialist?
We understand that placing your trust in someone to take care of your newborn can make you anxious. That’s why our vetting process makes sure to leave no stone unturned.
It starts with a detailed interview, where we go over a candidate’s career history. Our recruiters test the newborn care specialist’s situational awareness with questions about how they’d handle colic or sudden fevers.
We’re looking for confident answers that can come only from genuine experience with newborns.
Those same scenario questions check for discretion as well. Your newborn care specialist sees what goes on in the house, things that remain private and never come up in conversations with a stranger.
So we ask about situations from previous placements and watch how a candidate handles information that isn’t theirs to share.
If someone starts telling us what went on in another family’s home, we make a note, and they don’t reach your shortlist.
59% of our newborn care briefs asked for discretion, confidentiality or an NDA.
A newborn care specialist is expected to have certifications in First Aid and infant CPR along with any relevant specializations.
We verify those certifications to make sure they’re up to date and issued by recognized bodies like the American Red Cross.
If you want a specialist certified by the Newborn Care Specialist Association, we will make sure the candidate is a member before presenting them to you.
From our New York office, Jonathan de Vanderbilt explains that we want to hear a candidate’s whole story. Knowing the whole journey from their education up to their current job tells us a lot about the person beyond the resume.
We also look at how long people stay in their roles. Of the maternity nurses in our network with dated jobs, 33% have spent three years or more in the role, and the average is 3.2 years.
Our co-founder Morgan Richez explains why we look for it:
“When the candidate[s] … stay [a] long time in each job, this is the best way to build up the trust.”
We also do reference and criminal background checks. To find out more about our vetting process, visit our main hire a nanny page.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job briefs, 2022 to 2025, and candidate database, June 2026. How we count
Should your newborn care specialist be a registered nurse?
Usually not. Families who hire through us normally want proven newborn experience and childcare training. 67% of our newborn care briefs for clients asked for a childcare, nursing or maternity qualification.
Only one of our briefs in the US has asked for nursing.
A family we worked with in Mill Valley, California, wanted five years of nursing, ideally in a NICU or labor and delivery.
If your baby has medical needs, tell us about that as soon as possible. We can search for a private nurse with newborn experience and check their certificates before you meet anyone.
First aid and CPR were in 11% of briefs, but we check them for every candidate anyway. Experience in private homes is as important as the paperwork in many cases, as co-founder Laurine Mallet explains:
“The individuals don’t hire candidates without experiences. … They need people with experiences, qualification[s], but experiences in household.”
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job briefs, all our offices, 2022 to 2025. How we count
From your inquiry to your specialist's first day
Once you know the due date, you can give our recruiters a call to start the hiring process.
Knowing all the details like the due date, the schedule, any specializations, etc. helps us narrow down the search before we check our candidate database.
If there are two parents, we like to speak to both if possible. When a couple wants different things, a search may not go as smoothly, as Morgan Richez has seen with nanny searches:
“So that’s why you need to deal with that because even the … couple are not … on the same page as well.
“I think it’s important to talk to … the couple. … The couple is important to talk to each other. But again when there is a big difference between the wife and the man it can be so complicated.”
Your recruiter then comes up with a shortlist of the best matches so you don’t have to sift through hundreds of applications.
We find the top five matches according to your brief and set them up for interviews and trial periods with you.
This saves you time. Our 27 newborn care searches since 2022 had 1,257 applicants between them.
After your pick, we support you during the onboarding process, connecting you with legal advisors for drawing up contracts and NDAs.
For the first weeks, we check in regularly to see if the candidate is settling in as well as you expected.
It’s a good idea to think about the end date before you sign any contracts, too.
67% of our fixed-term newborn care briefs said the contract could be renewed or extended, which stops you from having to do a new search if you want them to stay on for longer.
If something seems off then that can be fixed too. Your recruiter is only a call away and has experience in smoothing over any issues that may come up.
We also offer a three-month replacement guarantee at no extra fee, so you can take the time to see how the fit works in your home.
If the match isn’t quite right for your family, we’ll keep looking until you find someone you’re happy to have around.
You can read more about our hiring process on our main nanny page.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job ads and briefs, all our offices, 2022 to 2025. How we count
Do you need round-the-clock specialist support, or just your nights covered?
Some families want a specialist managing feeding and sleeping of the newborn around the clock. A newborn care specialist can take care of that role, running a set feeding and sleeping routine for your baby for a fixed block.
But if you’re just looking for an expert who can tend to your baby while you get a good night’s sleep, we recommend a night nurse or night nanny.
We place live-out or rotation-based night nurses who look after your newborn until the morning. You can read more about overnight cover, including nightly rates, on our night nurse and night nanny page.
Bookings for nights can change as your baby grows. One family we recruited for in 2025 booked five nights a week for the first three months, then fewer nights for the next three.
In 2024, a family we worked with that had a two-year old a two-month-old booked five nights, 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., and also two hours at lunchtime.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job briefs, all our offices, 2024 and 2025. How we count
Who looks after your baby when the newborn weeks end?
Many families we work with keep the same person on or they hand over to a nanny. 41% of our newborn care searches were permanent or long-term roles from the beginning, not a fixed block of weeks.
We find that specialists often stay longer than was originally planned. In our candidates’ work histories, 50% of the finished maternity nurse jobs we can date lasted more than a year.
Let us know how long you want help for when you first call us. We can plan the next step early and hire a nanny who starts before your specialist leaves. Many families choose a live-in nanny for this.
Some families want to put the handover into the brief. In 2025 one family we recruited for planned to keep its maternity nurse until the baby was 11 months old, then bring in a nanny.
Two of our newborn nanny briefs in Miami in 2025 were written to carry on as the child grows, right up to school runs.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care and nanny job briefs, 2022 to 2025, and candidate work histories, June 2026. How we count
Newborn care for families who travel
To say traveling with a newborn is hard would be an understatement. A long flight and different time zones throw off the careful schedule for your newborn.
That’s where looking for a newborn care specialist that can move with your family can help. They keep your baby’s feeding and sleep steady across homes, so you’re not resetting the routine at every stop.
We place specialists who fly with you, whether for relocation or moving to your vacation home.
If travel is a part of your plan, it’s better to let us know early. We can then figure out passport, visa eligibility, and readiness to travel, and place someone who can work well with your lifestyle.
Travel was in 41% of our newborn care searches. In 2025 a family from Miami wanted a live-in newborn nanny for three homes, Miami, Revelstoke in Canada and Prague.
In a 2023 search we ran, a family from the UAE wanted a specialist to travel with the mother to Los Angeles for the birth, then back home again.
We also place many regular travel nannies too, who specialize in caring for older children.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job briefs, all our offices, 2022 to 2025. How we count
Why Morgan & Mallet
A newborn care specialist quickly becomes an important part of your baby’s life, and your family’s. That’s why Morgan & Mallet only places thoroughly vetted and qualified newborn care specialists from our database of 200,000 professionals, 50,300+ of them vetted.
Laurine Mallet, our co-founder, formed our company’s approach in placing childcare professionals based on her own experience as a nanny in high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth homes.
She knows the role having done it herself: the broken sleep, the feeding schedules, the calm a good newborn care specialist brings to an anxious house.
Laurine has had that bond with the children she’s looked after so she knows it can’t be faked. She trained our recruiters to screen for warmth and patience first along with certifications.
Those are the qualities that let a baby settle with someone new, ahead of anything on the resume.
This trust is important when someone is with your baby all night. In 15% of our newborn care briefs, the specialist shared the baby’s room. The median age of the maternity nurses in our network is 35.
That instinct guides how we pick the person we send into your home during one of the most delicate times of your family’s life.
You can read more about Morgan & Mallet and our team here.
Start the search for your newborn care specialist with us by calling +1 (646) 965-2308. Our offices in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles are ready to help.
Source: Morgan & Mallet newborn care job briefs, 2022 to 2025, and candidate database, June 2026. How we count
Frequently asked questions
Call us on +1 (646) 965-2308 or tell us about your due date and a recruiter will get back to you.
What is a newborn care specialist?
A newborn care specialist is a trained professional who cares for babies in the first weeks and months, focusing on feeding, sleep, and support for new parents.
In the US they’re often called a baby nurse, and in the UK a maternity nurse.
What's the difference between a baby nurse and a maternity nurse?
There isn’t one.
“Baby nurse” is the common American term and “maternity nurse” is the British term for the same role. Most US agencies now use “newborn care specialist” to be precise, since the person is usually not a registered nurse.
How much does a newborn care specialist cost?
In the private households we recruit for, a newborn care specialist earns $90,000 to $150,000 a year, based on Morgan & Mallet’s 2025/26 Household Staff Salaries Annual Report.
Short-term roles carry a higher weekly rate than the salaried equivalent, since specialists prefer stable long-term positions.
Experience, a neonatal or newborn-care certificate, sleep training or breastfeeding support, more children, and a high-cost city like New York or Los Angeles all push the rate up.
How many weeks do families usually book?
Most placements run around 12 weeks. Some families book just a few weeks to get through the early adjustment, while others keep a specialist on until the baby is sleeping through the night.
Twins or a premature baby often push a placement past 12 weeks.
Do you place specialists for twins?
Yes. Caring for two newborns at once is a different job, so we match you with someone who has genuinely done it before.
We have specialists experienced with twins and multiples, and placements for two babies often run longer than 12 weeks.
Can a specialist start at short notice?
Yes, babies don’t keep to a calendar, so we hold relationships with specialists who can begin quickly, including after an early arrival. Much of our childcare recruiting focuses on candidates who are immediately available and willing to relocate fast.
We can’t promise a fixed turnaround, but when a suitable specialist is already active with us, we move quickly.
Call us on +1 (646) 965-2308 or tell us about your due date and a recruiter will get back to you.
New York
office address
260 Madison Avenue, 8th floor, 10016, New York, NY - United States
phone
+1 (646)965-2308
opening hours
Monday - Thursday : 9AM - 6PM
Friday : 9AM - 5PM
Saturday & Sunday : Closed
Miami
office address
1555 NE 121st Street, Suite 104, North Miami, FL 33161, United States
phone
+1 305 710 3380
opening hours
Monday - Thursday : 9AM - 6PM
Friday : 9AM - 5PM
Saturday & Sunday : Closed
Los Angeles
office address
895 Dove St, Newport Beach, CA 92660, United States
phone
+1 305 710 3380
opening hours
Monday - Thursday : 9AM - 6PM
Friday : 9AM - 5PM
Saturday & Sunday : Closed