The mothers at your hospital should get down on their knees and be grateful 
that  your hospital is helping them to breastfeed! They don't get this at 
most of the hospitals where I live, and baby comes home early and not 
feeding well (34-35 weeks). And parents have NO say so in baby's care around 
here (or so they report to me). Let me clarify, these babies can bottle feed 
by swallowing the liquid but they aren't sucking and they don't demand to 
eat so they are scheduled every three hours. And normally, they get zero 
breastfeeding help before discharge.

But I do think it is reasonable to expect those moms who want to breastfeed 
to be there for several feedings per day. The baby needs to progress to 
"normal" feedings. And baby needs to nurse more than one time a day to learn 
how to breastfeed.

I would suggest an explanation rather than a demand to parents. They usually 
will go along with things when they understand the reasoning behind it.

A few of the better hospitals here do a thing at the end of the NICU stay 
where mom "rooms in" with the baby. It is called "care by parent" sometimes. 
She does all the feedings/care herself for a few days and then baby is 
discharged.

Kathy Eng, BSW, IBCLC 

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