I often struggle with this, we have so many different nurses with thier own philosophies and ideas of what to do if the baby does not eat well every 3 hours and sleep contentedly in bassinet in between! The most common thing that I see is that they go in the nursery. If they don't sleep and fuss, they go in the swing, if they fuss alot and it has "only" been an hour since he left mom, then I have seen them give 10cc formula. ackk!! I am lucky, my nurse manager is supportive of bedding in and the house staff is, too she says. So despite what some of the old timers think, with my patients, and those I help (I am night shift) I almost always help them into the sidelying position with pillow tucked snugly behind mom's back, sometimes a pillow between the knees if they want (I always ask because some don't), the bed is mostly flat, baby is flat on matress with a rolled up flannel blanket tucked behind back, and a pillow (ours are hard and flat, yuck!) tucked between rail and bed. I always make sure mom is scooted up to the top of the bed and to one side as if to make room for another person (and she is!). I always stress to use common sense about safety as you would if baby were in a crib. I make sure I point out everything I did to ensure that they are ok there and that it is ok if mom falls asleep. I also make sure anything mom needs is in her reach, and if dad is there, I show him what I did so that he can do it after they get home and tell him how important he is in helping mom in this way. I always come in a room and find mom's bed all the way up, they are sitting up and thier eyelids are heavy and thier poor stitched and swollen bottoms are sore as well, thier back is sore, etc. no wonder they want a break from nursing! So I tell them that I need to show them another way to nurse, that since not many people have hospital beds at home that sit them up, that we are doing this as a learning experience because once she is at home she will want some alternatives. I use this time to explain the surg of prolactin that may make them sleepy and it will feel good to lay horizontal when nursing sometimes. I can't help every mom, sometimes we have 30 moms on our unit, I resign myself to feeling good about the ones I do help. It helps to know that there is no policy (in our hospital) that says they can't bed in, and that it is personal opinion that nurses give to the patients. I just had a couple that I got them bedded in as above and before I showed them how, they told me that they were told they couldn't. I said that the lactation and physicians were supportive of it and that what they heard the nurse tell them was probably her personal opinion. They had a great night and I felt real good about helping them. I also think it helpped them to see how there is no black and white in parenting. good luck! I find fussy babies and tired parents one of my biggest challenges after latch on problems! (which could probably be avoided by getting rid of the nursery and stressing skin to skin and bedding in) Janette RN Mother/ baby nurse Portland, OR