<As a L&D/postpartum RN I am astounded by the number of mothers who <claim
they want to breastfeed
<and yet have the nurse take the baby so she can get a good nights sleep.

Sally,

I fell into this category with my first child because every pregnancy book
reiterated that I should get my sleep in the hospital "while I could" since I
would not be getting as much at home.  Before kids, that seemed to make sense
to me.

It took until my second child to discover that if  you kept baby with you
continuously and in your bed, sleep was not disturbed in a way that made me
debilitated.

I am still very resentful that my pediatrician didn't suggest as much to me
when I was dead exhausted with my first child.  Two years later when I was
accredited as a Leader, I discovered that, at the time I had my first child,
the pediatrician himself had children in his own family bed.  As a young mom,
I didn't even know this was "allowed" and would have latched onto (I love
that pun) the option if it were explained.

So, I encourage all of you on the maternity floor to continue to patiently
(no pun intended that time) and consistently explain these things to each
woman/family who seems open to it.  You never know when someone like me is
that patient and I would have really appreciated the information.

Karen Seroussi
Sunny South Florida (okay, well not so sunny right now that our rainy season
started last week, trying to use it all up before y'all come down here to
ILCA)

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