
INTERVIEW WITH MELINDA, GENEVA’S MATERNITY NURSE AT BEEBOO
One of the unacknowledged dreams of young parents leaving the maternity hospital is to take their facilities and nursing staff home with them, and thus benefit from the expertise and support of specialized, well-informed personnel.
For some years now, maternity nurses have been on a mission to ease the burden on these families and help them settle in smoothly…
Qualifications, passion and kindness are the driving forces behind Melinda, a Maternity Nurse working for BeeBoo, the childcare recruitment experts in the Geneva and Vaud cantons.
Meet a passionate professional!
(BeeBoo) Hello Mélinda, what led you to become a Maternity Nurse in Geneva?
It’s something I didn’t know about until very recently. In France and Switzerland, we’re still lagging behind in this area, but it does exist, so I looked into it (smile).
Given my professional background, the Maternity Nurse training courses were a perfect fit for me.
Being able to accompany and support parents in the post-partum period and their baby’s development is something I love doing. We have the time to listen and share our knowledge and experience. The maternity stay is short, and becoming a parent isn’t something you learn overnight.

What’s your career path?
I studied in France, doing 3 years of nursing studies to get my diploma. I already had my sights set on working with children, which was non-negotiable for me (laughs).
After graduating, I worked at Necker Hospital in Paris, in general pediatrics on the infant side (0-3 years). We mainly treated babies. I learned a lot from my colleagues.
I stayed there for about 2 and a half years.
I decided to go back to school to deepen my knowledge and get my diploma as a nursery nurse. During my training, I did lots of interesting internships, but it was the one in the maternity ward where I felt I really belonged.
Accompanying parents, supporting them, informing them, so that they could go home with peace of mind was my favorite thing to do.
I was determined to find a job in this field, and then an opportunity presented itself. Some parents I’d met in Paris, who’d had a traumatic experience with their first child, contacted me to see if I’d like to come and look after their 4-month-old baby boy full-time. I jumped at the chance. I stayed with them for 4 and a half years. It was an incredible experience.
Following this, I felt the need for a change and wanted to become a self-employed perinatal coach. So I took several perinatal training courses to deepen and enrich my knowledge and skills.
Today, I accompany parents with BeeBoo for short/medium-term needs.
What is the role of a Maternity Nurse?
The role of the Maternity Nurse is to accompany and support parents, and to take care of the mother who has just given birth and her baby.
Becoming a parent is an important step, and involves a lot of upheaval, whether it’s the 1st or 3rd child. It’s all about finding yourself and finding a new family balance.
She guides parents along the path to parenthood. She informs them, supports them and accompanies them with kindness. It’s important to know that we’re not here to impose anything. We have the knowledge we need, thanks to our diplomas, training and experience, but parents are the only ones who decide what they want or don’t want to do with their child, and that’s perfectly acceptable. So we have to know how to adapt and make compromises to bring our knowledge and practices into line with those of parents.
She is also responsible for ensuring that all the baby’s needs are met.
She also ensures that the baby-parent bond is well established, and can suggest ways of encouraging it (skin-to-skin contact, involving the parent if he or she is withdrawn, massage).

Which families do you help the most? (Young couple with 1 child, Families with several children, Single-parent families)
Most of the time, I’m dealing with couples with just one child.
What are families’ main requests when they call on a Maternity Nurse?
Families expect the maternity nurse to accompany them in a caring and professional way. They are looking for someone they can trust to look after their baby. Mutual trust, communication and kindness are the three main pillars of quality support and a harmonious relationship between the family and the maternity nurse.
Some parents want to set a rhythm for their baby. It’s important to remember that the first 3 months can’t be rhythmic in the strict sense of the word.
However, rituals can already be put in place, so that baby has habits that reassure him and enable him to understand what’s going to happen. For example, with the evening ritual (bath-dinner-story) indicating that bedtime is approaching.
Families also need a relay. Bringing up a child is no easy task – quite the contrary! (Laughs). It’s essential to be able to rely on the maternity nurse who looks after the baby, while the parents spend time together or with the other children.
In general, parents need to be reassured in their parenting skills and surrounded by support.
What do you think could be improved in the Maternity Nurse profession? What does the profession need to be or continue to be the most beautiful profession in the world?
We deserve to be better known and for people to know our role. We’re not just nannies to look after a child.
We’re qualified professionals who help parents and their babies to thrive.
Thanks a lot Melinda!
- Discover a job with passion and a future with the Maternity Nurse Training at Pop.Pins Academy, in partnership with BeeBoo
- Discover the portrait of another Maternity Nurse at BeeBoo
Find out more about Pop.Pins Academy
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