Why is are hospitals paying to staff nurseries so that well babies can go there at night and mom can "rest"?  Just not cost effective.  I work in a large maternity hospital and we do not have a place for healthy babies to be cared for away from their parents and it has been like this for many years.  We do have a NICU and intermediate nursary as well as an "observation" nursery that is used for babies are well but need to be in nursery d/t medical condition of mom or other special circumstances. 

I seem to remember (Marsha Walker?) commenting that from a safety perspective alone, healthy babies should remain with their mother.

Cordelia Merritt RN BSN IBCLC
> Subject: Re: overstimulation in the nursery and scrips for staff
> 
> We have been discussing this issue at our hospital also. It is 
> one of our topics for our breastfeeding task force.  Yes 
> part of the problem is moms want their baby in the nursery at 
> night, but many mothers would prefer to have their baby with 
> them but they are under the impression babies are supposed to be 
> in the nursery at night. I tend to talk with the parents and ask 
> how the night went and if they had baby with them.  If they 
> say nursery then I ask details, like whose idea was it, how long 
> was baby there, did baby come back for feedings, ect.  Of 
> course I don't grill them on it!  I fit the questions into 
> the conversation.  Many times the mom states baby was in 
> the nursery 4-7 hours and they comment that they were expecting 
> baby sooner and they wondered when baby was going to come 
> back.  It really surprises me when I tell mom she can ask 
> for her baby or go to the nursery to get her baby and they say, 
> "I did not know I could do that".  I actually get this 
> comment a lot.  I try to explain to parents and staff that 
> baby is not what is making mom tired and taking away the baby 
> makes the problem worse and really sets mom up for some 
> difficult first nights home.  If mom is too tired to take 
> care of her baby at night then we need to see what is causing 
> the problem (i.e.  an hour long professional photo shoot 
> that day (a HUGE pet peeve of mine), too many visitors, ect..
> 
> I find it ironic that every patient report has the "rooming-in" 
> box checked, yet most babies spend a lot of time in the 
> nursery.  I think one of the things we need to do is 
> revisit the true meaning of rooming-in and if mom plans to have 
> her baby in the nursery then we should not check that box--it is 
> misleading.  If you were to do a study (using patient 
> records) at our hospital you would find that 100% of our 
> patients room-in!!
> 
> I hope this doesn't sound too sarcastic, but this whole idea 
> that mom and dad are too tired to take care of baby at night 
> makes me chuckle because under most circumstances a new mom and 
> dad have way more energy at their most tired than I have when I 
> am at my best, and to think two perfectly healthy (and in most 
> cases very young) adults can't care for their own baby at night 
> makes no sense to me!
> 
> Our nursery commitee has made new crib cards with our hospital 
> logo.  They look very nice.  They liked the idea of 
> the crib cards that have the 5 steps for successful 
> breastfeeding on the back, so they put these on our new 
> cards.  All moms breast or formula will have the same 
> cards. I like the first 2 steps because they are written for 
> both breast and formula feeding moms and they state baby should 
> be placed skin-to-skin after birth and #2 is baby should stay in 
> the room during the entire hospital stay.  We are trying to 
> encourage moms that they need to do skin-to-skin and keep baby 
> with them regardless of the feeding method.  At least it is 
> a start, anyway!
> 
> Christine Lichte, BS, IBCLC
>

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