Sara said
I've got to be really tactful when explaining rooming
in, knowing that if a mother gives birth in this hospital then she'll have a
fight on her hands to keep her baby with her at night. But at least my own
experience has taught me that it is the mothers choice whether they (the
hospital) like it or not. Maybe I can start a trend in the right direction.

I agree Sara, that you will have a fight on your hands but a very worthy one
indeed. Before we went 'Baby Friendly' my unit was renowned for it's
wonderful postnatal care. Mothers would stay in for a rest, happy in the
knowledge that their babies would be cared for over night so they could
sleep and recover (and be filled with sleeping tablets!). The opinion of
most staff and many mothers seemed to be that this facility was a good thing
and to lose it would be detrimental. Our b/f rates weren't so bad and the
remark was often made that baby friendly wasn't mother friendly!! At times I
was filled with despair that we could ever move forward.
But when word got round that the nursery had gone, more and more mothers
started to speak out that they had 'allowed' their babies to go to the
nursery overnight because they didn't want to be the only one keeping
everyone else awake, it was not what they would have chosen; a lot of
emotional blackmail had been going on.
 There are very few now who would turn back the clock, although a few staff
will never be convinced however much research and evidence you show them.
luckily they are now very much in the minority and afraid to rock the boat
too much. They are also the ones who regret that we no longer supply bounty
bags or free formula to inpatients (they have to bring in their own formula
and bottles) so really there isn't much hope for them is there?
Hilary

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