I wrote a letter of complaint regarding the hospital's procedures during my first child's birth. I wanted my second child's start to be easier. I outlined exactly what I expected from the hospital the second time: rooming in, constant access to my baby, the baby was not to "visit" the nursery for rounds, absolutely, positively no artificial teats, etc. The hospital advertised rooming in, but I think it's very different in practice. Then I let my friends edit my letter so my anger wouldn't show through. To my surprise, I received a phone call from the head of MCN when my letter was received. She called my first experience "a comedy of errors" and asked what she could do to help. She wrote me a letter, a sent duplicates to my doctor and my chart giving me a private room (no extra charge), real rooming in, unlimited husband visits so he could help with the baby and a promise of no artificial teats unless medically necessary. I was thrilled. I took the letter with me to the hospital. I indeed got a private room. The nurses complained constantly about having to look for my baby for rounds (this is a hugh HMO teaching hospital). I had to sleep with the door open and the light on so they could check on me throughout the night. They kept wanting to bring her to the nursery. She needed a bath or they would have to gown every time they touched her. I thanked them for caring enough about my baby to gown. The said she was getting cold and needed to be under warming lights. I thanked them for their concern and continued to hold her. They said she was dehydrated and needed water and they couldn't be responsible if she had serious complications because of the lack of water. I dumped some of the water down the sink. Amazingly, she wasn't dehydrated two hours later when they checked on her again. They asked my husband to leave. He finally did after long discussions with the nurses. The next morning the PKU lab man, the birth certificate lady and a pedi showed up all at once. They were ready to get rid of us after 12 hours. She was discharged! I did get rooming in, I had the baby with me all the time, and I breastfed her everytime she squeaked. However, I disrupted the hospital routine, which normally I would have enjoyed, and that made the whole experience less than pleasant. If I had to do it all over again, I think I'd choose my living room. I've heard enough stories from parents who were committed to breastfeeding have less than ideal treatment in the hospital. "Your baby is crying and hungry and you don't have any milk!" "Just one bottle won't hurt!" "Your baby's getting dehydrated." And my most recent favorite: "We're discharging you but we can't discharge the baby before a feeding and your insurance won't pay for him to stay longer, We better give him a bottle." We need Baby Friendly Hospitals. Elizabeth