Re: postdelivery bonding and baby care

From: Jamie (ajfields@pine-net.com)
Fri Jun 23 12:17:14 2006

I have worked in a teaching hospital in Dallas. Their policies may have changed since I left. More recently, in 2 very rural hospitals in the south. I participate in more than one parenting site, and my information also comes from the stories told by those mothers. The trend toward family centered care seems to be slow in getting to the central U.S. Both coasts are, as usual, ahead of the rest of us. The hospital nearest me still has separate labor and delivery rooms, and the baby is often taken to the nursery without the mother so much as laying eyes on it. They had a heart attack at my friend's birth plan, which specified that the baby was never to leave her side, provided everything was well. It's good to hear positive stories. I hope the rest of us can follow in your footsteps.

At Fri, 23 Jun 2006, LCLEMOS@aol.com wrote: >
>In a message dated 6/22/2006 1:19:11 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
>ajfields@pine-net.com writes:
>
>Although it is changing in some areas, here is it most common that the
>baby is born and handed to a nurse, who places the baby under a radiant
>warmer (you can see similar over the french fries at McDonald's ;-)).
>Baby is dried, suctioned-routine delee suctioning isn't common anymore,
>APGARs are done. If the baby seems to be transitioning slowly or
>poorly, that is addressed. In some hospitals, the Vit K and
>erythromycin are given at this point-in others those things are done in
>the nursery. It is often assumed that the mother doesn't want to hold
>the baby until she is cleaned up and tucked in, at which time she'll be
>handed her baby burrito. If the mother asks for the baby to be handed
>directly to her, many docs will do so, but unless she asks, it's
>uncommon to offer. Nurses sometimes complain about the difficulty of
>accessing the baby on mom's abdomen.
>Rooming in varies a lot, as well. In some hospitals it is standard
>procedure that the baby go to the nursery for a number of hours for
>recovery. In that case, the baby usually goes no later than an hour
>after birth. When mom sees the baby again, it has usually been bathed
>and dressed. If she's planning to bf and is really lucky, no one will
>have given it a bottle of water or formula. Again, compliance with
>mother's wishes IRT bfing varies a lot from one location to another.
>
>I don't know where JFields practices, but this would have been true 10 years
>ago here. Now bonding, family centered care, no eye ointment until eye to
>eye contact with mom if possible (if mom and baby able) is the more common
>practice... in fact I have often laughed at families who want to know what the
>baby weighs even though they haven't let go of it yet! (conditioning on their
>part, I guess!).
>
>CSections are tougher but some places are managing to keep the baby-mom
>together there as well- the perinatal listserv had a nurse excitedly posting her
>success at keeping mom/baby together from birth to room during/after a
>Csection, but that is a tough routine to establish. It is valued here however.
>
>Laurie in ME

--
JFields, RN, BSN



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