9 Best Nursing Jobs for Moms
Let’s talk about the best nursing jobs for moms. Don’t feel like reading? Listen here!
Mom life is not for the faint of heart. And neither is a career in nursing.
But when you know what to look for, you can find a nursing job that gives you the best of both worlds. After all, the greatest gift of a nursing career is flexibility — and the possibilities to reinvent yourself are endless. Want to change up your schedule or work with a different patient population? No problem! Itching for a new work environment with a slower (or faster) pace? You’ve got it!
So it’s settled: your options are limitless. But how can you know which job best fits your aspirations as both a nurse and mother?
Narrowing Your Search
When you become a parent, everything changes — including your priorities. Aspects of your job that once seemed unimportant could now make all the difference for your satisfaction at work and at home.
At a minimum, you’ll want to ensure any nursing job you consider has the following:
- a flexible schedule that meets your needs
- a workplace culture that is supportive of family life
- a strong benefits package that will keep your family healthy and protected
- a management team that understands and values work-life balance
Know that wherever you are in your motherhood journey, you deserve a job that is both fulfilling and compatible with your lifestyle.
Keep reading for a curated list of nursing jobs that offer flexibility, improved work-life balance, and plentiful opportunities for growth — in other words, jobs that are ideal for moms.
Best Nursing Jobs for Moms
No two moms are the same when it comes to parenting philosophies, so why would career aspirations be any different?
One woman might love the idea of embracing her maternal instincts to care for newborns and share her hard-earned parenting knowledge with other new moms in a postpartum unit.
Another might view work as an escape from parenting exhaustion, wanting to stay far away from moms and babies while working outside the home. Both of these needs are valid — and both can be satisfied with the right nursing job.
Whether you’re an experienced nurse or an aspiring one, you can be confident in finding a job that meets your complex needs. Check out the list below to learn more.
School Nurse
School nurses perform health screenings and manage ongoing health issues for students of all ages. As a school nurse, you’ll work regular hours — potentially even the same hours that your children attend school. You’ll also be able to enjoy downtime with your kids in the summer and on weekends and holidays. And school nursing is a natural fit for many moms, as it allows you to put your nurturing instincts to good use.
Home Health Nurse
Home health nurses visit patients in their homes to monitor ongoing health conditions and manage care. They conduct tests, administer medications, treat wounds, perform health assessments, and much more.
Home health nursing offers less stress and a more flexible schedule than many hospital jobs.
For instance, these nurses can often cluster patient visits together during certain hours and then chart at home later. This allows them to set their own schedule, to some degree, and provides great flexibility around school and daycare schedules.
Ambulatory Care Nurse
Ambulatory care nurses provide patient care in outpatient clinic settings. Their job duties include performing health assessments, administering medications, coordinating care, and providing lots of patient education.
These nurses work in primary care and a wide variety of specialty areas, ranging from radiation oncology to outpatient surgery. Clinic jobs can offer working moms a set schedule with regular office hours and no nights, weekends, or holidays. You’ll need full-time childcare, but you’ll never miss dinner with your kids.
Clinical Research Nurse
Clinical research nurses care for patients of all ages participating in clinical trials. They provide patient education, administer treatments and medication, collect labs, and synthesize clinical data, among other duties.
These nurses work regular hours but maintain flexibility. They typically schedule their patient visits and have a good deal of independence. Some research jobs even offer the possibility of working virtually on one or more days per week. Best of all? They’re making a difference in the future of healthcare. Sounds like a win-win, right?
Occupational Health Nurse
Occupational health nurses promote health and safety in the workplace and monitor and manage employee health.
They also coordinate and deliver health-promoting programs in employment settings.
Sometimes called “factory nurses,” these nurses typically enjoy a less stressful work environment and more regular hours than other nurses in clinical settings. They also practice with a great degree of autonomy, which is appealing to many mothers.
Postpartum / Mother-Baby Nurse
Postpartum nurses care for mother-baby couplets in the immediate period after birth. They administer medications, monitor the health of mother and child, assist with infant feeding, and provide patient education.
These nurses typically work 8- to 12-hour hospital shifts, but they have flexibility in whether they work full-time or part-time and nights or days. You’ll be able to use your experience as a mother and your familiarity with babies to your advantage in this job by providing much-needed reassurance and education to new moms. Another perk? Postpartum jobs are typically quite supportive of your needs as a new mom – for example, pumping breaks.
Lactation Consultant / Nurse
Lactation consultants provide support and education to new moms who breastfeed their babies. They often work in hospitals and birth centers, but some work independently and visit patients in their homes.
Working as a lactation consultant offers tremendous flexibility. Hospital and clinic jobs have a variety of scheduling options available, and if you run your own consulting business, you can determine your own schedule and method of seeing patients. Many new mothers are passionate about breastfeeding, and you might find great fulfillment in supporting other mothers on their breastfeeding journey.
Telehealth Nurse
Working from home can be appealing for many women from pregnancy onward. And believe it or not, remote nursing jobs do exist — telehealth being one of them.
Telehealth nurses assess patients remotely and offer recommendations about their care needs via phone or video chat.
Scheduling can be flexible, and other perks include low stress levels and being able to work from home. However, these jobs often require you to prove that you have childcare during working hours.
So don’t be fooled into thinking you can breeze through childcare while working from home. I promise you that many brave women have tried and failed. But this is still an extremely appealing option for working moms.
Utilization Review (UR) / Utilization Management (UM) Nurse
UR and UM nurses review medical cases and ensure patients receive care that suits their needs. These nurses balance patient needs with hospital policies and budgets.
Because much of their work happens behind the scenes, these nurses can often work remotely or in a hybrid manner. This can translate to flexible scheduling and more time at home with your kids. As with telehealth nursing, you’ll still need childcare — but otherwise, what’s not to love?
Employer Ratings in the Healthcare Industry
Explore the employer ratings in the healthcare industry across all states. These ratings are based on two key criteria that greatly influence job satisfaction: salary and benefits and work-life balance. Explore this chart and understand what states offer the most competitive compensation packages and the best work-life balance. Keep in mind that these ratings are based on individual experience and may vary based on a multitude of factors.
The chart is interactive, so feel free to explore!
Disclaimer: Data until April 2023
Juggling Nurse Life and Mom Life
Nursing and parenting can feel like Herculean challenges on their own, so combining the two could give anyone a run for their money. However, a career in nursing offers unmatched flexibility and endless possibilities for change. And the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that nursing isn’t going anywhere as an in-demand career.
So take a deep breath, moms. You’ve got this. And there’s a nursing job that’s got exactly what you need.
