This is also extremely common practice here in Australia. There should always be exceptional circumstances allowed for and I once had a run in with staff at my local hospital over being with my sister in law during the rest time. My niece had had difficulty breathing after birth and been flown to Sydney for treatment. Her partner had accompanied the baby and my parents in law were at home sleeping after having been up all night supporting their daughter. I took over the supporting shift and stayed with her in her private room. Staff wanted me to leave for the rest period but I refused to because my sister in law needed someone with her as she waited to hear whether her baby was going to live or die. Rest was not a possibility. Moral to the story is...rules can be applied poorly or well.  
Karleen Gribble 
Australia (with a collection of sisters in law with many and varied hospital and post-discharge treatment disasters)
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rachel Myr
Sent: Thursday, 10 June 2010 6:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [LACTNET] mid-day naptime in hospitals
Visitors are kept out, all ward routines are timed so that nobody has to open the door to a room during the siesta, unless the mother herself uses the call bell system to ask for help.  The cleaning is done beforehand, no teaching or lab rounds are scheduled for that time, and no doctors are allowed to examine women or converse with them about their experiences unless there is a life or death issue.  If a baby gets transferred back to the normal ward from ICU during siesta we take it in to the mother, but nothing less than that would justify disturbing a woman at rest.  Staff keep their voices down in the corridors and we strongly encourage women to turn off their mobile phones though that seems to be very difficult for a lot of them! 

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