hospital obligation to bf....
Find a Conversation
| Mon, 08-30-2004 - 10:15am |
2 recent incidences I've come across IRL spark this question.
MY SIL just delivered in a hospital I routinely refer to as a "baby-factory" They have a 33% section rate and are "very" interventionist. However, they have the best NICU in the area and many people choose it for that reason alone (ot, but that makes no sense to me unless you know you have a high-risk baby -- i delivered another hopspital which could've had my children there in under 10 minuts if necessary -- but i digress).
Anyway, i had heard some really awful things about the pp nurses at said hopsital...2 friends were told they had 20 min to latch the baby on -- if not, she had to have a bottle right then and there...ugh. SIL had a pretty average delivery and felt great. my new neice latched on well and all was going fine in the hospital. However, she was pushed EVERY time a nurse came in to give her a bottle because "her milk wouldn't be in for days and the baby would starve." SIL had taken a bf class which offered much conflicting information to what the pp nurses said, so she refused the formula. When I came to visit she asked me if she was right to refuse, and she also called the bf instructor. I later learned that this hospital has "done away" with lactaction services. One pp nurse happens to be an LC so if you're lucky you get her.
Another friend had a section for a breech recently and her husband was unable to spend nights at the hospital (they have an older child). She was not alllowed to nurse the baby unless she had a visitor in the room or a nurse. They would not leave her alone with the baby given the medication she had been on for "safety reasons." She only nursed the baby a handful times...in fact she barely spent much time with the baby as caring for her other child prevented DH from being there more than a few hours and her family is not local. When the baby was in the nursery he had formula; if DH was there, she nursed.
Is a hospital obligated to help a mother establish a good bF relationship? A hospital is obligated to provide a low-salt diet to a high blood pressure patient. Given the medical recommendation to BF and the critical early days, is this any different?
p.s. Both babies are currently nursing well despite these scenarios. However, I think it's just as likely things could've went south.
p.p.s. I'm barely even lurking anymore -- busy summer, too mnay beach days and i'm also feeling a bit green -- 16 weeks pg. However, I hope to be able to jump back in soon?

Pages
-chelle
Wish they would have those in our maternity hospitals!!!
Thanks Fio for posting the article showing the picture.
In fact, w/my firstborn, the nurse did *not* ever feed the baby at all! Only dh & I. I did have a nurse to "help" me on other admission because the baby just didn't want to eat & dh and I were stressed & upset.
The nurses don't feed the babies *for* you (not in our hospital) in your room unless you are uncomfortable and needing to either take a shower to help w/the discomfort (my reason for taking many a day other than I just love taking showers anyway several times a day LOL)...or because you need a sitz bath right then. Or, in case that your dh has stepped out of the hospital & you are on pain medications (like *I*) and needed their assistance! I was also on benadryl which makes me want to sleep like a baby! LOL
In our hospital *if* you send your baby, at any time, day or night, to the nursery, YES *your* nurse assigned to care for you & your baby during her shift *does* all the babies feedings! So for formula feeding moms who for whatever reason sends the baby to the nursery for awhile & that baby needs a bottle *your* nurse feeds your baby for you.
In the hospital my sister delivered, when her baby would go to the nursery (she ff'd her first, bf her second) the nursery staff would feed him *if* he needed a bottle during the time he was there.
Formula feeding is easier than it would have been had I been able to exclusively pump (and no, I was not intending to actually breastfeed at *any* time, EP only had I been able to use my milk).
While you think it is *wrong* to expect the nursing staff to do it....I think you are not realizing (or I'm not getting that you are realizing :o) that this is part of our nurses *job description* who work on the maternity floor!!!
If we send the babies to the nursery or while they are in the nursery first thing in the morning during their pediatrician check, vitals, and bath then it is the nurses responsibility to feed that ff'd baby! Sure, bf'd babies *have* to go back to their moms. FFing moms can *request* the same if they wish. In my personal experience, the nurses did not have to feed my baby during the morning checkup/bath because my babies had just finished their bottles before they went to the nursery via my nurse.
With my firstborn, the second night of my hospital stay, I was exhausted & needed pain medication. My dh was exhausted (he had just returned from a two week overseas business trip on top of the exciting, high anxiety birthing of our first child! He needed to go home & get some rest before he brought the baby & I home. So, my nurse, assigned to *me* and *my baby* for the 7p-7a shift took my baby to the nursery at like midnight & kept him there for a few hours so I could sleep...yes, she gave him a bottle, changed his diaper, and sat in the rocking chair holding him. It is in *her* job description to do this....she *offered*, I did *not* ask!!!
If you are in a hospital where the nurses have more than two or three patients they are caring for, it is not in the nurses exact job description down in the HR department, then yes, you have a valid reason to be against it. IMHO otherwise, you don't.
I was not planning to breastfeed at all. However, I so very much wanted to exclusively pump for the first year at least, possibly longer. I could not use my breastmilk after extensive research, questioning, talking, discussing (I've discussed this many times here; check the archives :o).
However, admittingly, formula feeding is far EASIER!
I'm on the go all the time around our city & on the outskirts. I'm often out of the house from 7am until we come in around say 10 or 11 after we have dinner. We also travel all the time to South Carolina & Florida (as well as other locations).
So while for some, easier & convenience of formula feeding is not true for them. Doesn't make it universal for all of us moms. It has to do IMHO w/lifestyle. I know it does for *US*!
Further note, I addressed this just a moment ago in another post on virtually the same question, yes, our nurses are assigned two to three patients per their shift & it is part of their job description (they told us that directly each time we were in the hospital; told others I know IRL..) to help you w/the baby (including ffing babies if needed/desired) and to bring the mom snacks (on their own or per the mom's request). This is our hospital set up policy. You may not agree. You may not have utilized these things had you been in our hospital. But it doesn't change the fact it is our hospital policy.
Fio.
I was blessed! My babies would awake for a bottle like 12:30-12:45. I was still up anyway at that time. We'd go to bed together around 1am.
My babies would be ready for another bottle/cuddling time around 5-5:30am. I get up at that time anway.
Things that made those first weeks especially easy for *me* in the ffing scenario? We stayed in the downstairs master suite for the first 6 weeks or so. Not only is it located just off the kitchen, but like the suite upstairs, it has a wet bar area complete w/a refrigerator. Dh took off (well, working at home quite a bit of the time LOL) two to three weeks after we would return home from the hospital stay.
So bfing could not have been any easier. We do and have coslept. Not every night, but quite often! We also started out with the baby bed in our room rather than the nursery.
I was wondering as I read your post.
Dh has insurance at no cost to him & our family. I had the same deal when I was in my career.
Thanks in advance for answering.
And I can't imagine sharing a labor room like Rachel did on Friends! I was LOL at that one! That was a new one! LOL
I personally would *not* ever share a hospital room w/another new mother. I'm so very conscious of protecting ourselves from touching or coming in contact with others blood & body fluids and quite honestly, sharing a bathroom, having btdt now, I'm even *more* adamant about it!!!!!!!!!
I would have requested my ob to have allowed me to be discharged or moved me to another floor where there was a private room in that case. I wouldn't take no for an answer. But that is just *who* I am!
So sorry girls!!!!
Pages