Anne said: "Babies can "transition" in their mother's room....
I've done the frequent checks on babies at Mom's breast, with just a
quiet "I need to peek at the baby now." You can see color, listen for
heart and breath sounds, check vital signs, and yes even see retractions
on a babe at breast."

I agree that this is the best way. I saw it done today in my L&D when I
spent an hour w/mom & babe. Some of the RNs thought the advent of our
couplet care floor would eliminate nursery time for baby. Not to be. The
first day, we had NICU-experienced RNs who insisted babies needed to be
quiet & undisturbed until time to go to mom. The same RNs didn't work the
Transition nursery today. They are excellent at what they do in NICU, but
FT healthy Level I babies don't need quite that much protection.
Especially, they don't need to be "protected" from mom & dad!  As we worked
out some of the new process bugs today, babies spent less time in the
T-nursery. I personally liberated 3 of them before formula could be brought
to their mouths. Yeah! I have to find out why the policy exists that babies
must stay in T-nursery until 4 hrs old. It's an unnecessary enforced
separation. They do hearing tests then because it's usually baby's sleep
phase. But they also do other exams & Hep-B shots. Some oppty to sleep,
right? Anyway, today was less ABM & more breastfeeding, so I'm feeling
better.

--- Phyllis Adamson, IBCLC
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