Lizabeth, you ask "From what I have read, the baby should have as much breastmilk as possible, especially if he has pneumonia. Right? If the mother wants to keep her supply up she should be allowed to feed him directly. Right? If the hospital wants him to get better, too, they should allow mothers to feed on demand. Right?" Lactnuts, I bet ya'll are tired of hearing from me as I've posted alot this day, but I must say: Right, right, right. Schedules: Yes, sometimes teaching hosps want parents out during rounds becoz cases are being discussed and it is a privacy / confidentiality issue. However, couldn't the mom be placed in a corner (even move the baby to the farthest spot) and put a screen around her to bf. We used to ask the parents to leave briefly as the babies next to her were being discussed but the docs quickly move on and the parents can come right back in. If it is a big unit, the parents can't hear what is being said at the other end. Even better, could the baby and mom room in on postpartum or pediatrics? Put them by the nsg station if they need to be watched closely. You say "Parents are very emotional and disheartened." Hopefully they will speak up and say that this is unacceptable. Shake up the status quo. Banning parents from their babies from 8a - 1p is barbaric. The whole setup and philosophy of the unit needs to be re=evaluated. The parents demanding it could just get it done. The AAP policy under Recommended BF Practices #1. states that "human milk is the preferred feeding for all infants, including premature and sick newborns, with rare exceptions. The ultimate decision on feeding the infant is the mother's." Therefore, the mother should state that artificial feeding is unacceptable, that she is there to feed her baby directly, and will provide expressed milk at nite if she cannot be there. However, I vote for rooming-in if at all possible. Laurie Wheeler, RN, MN, IBCLC - former (humane) NICU nurse Violet Louisiana, s.e. USA ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html