This issue drives me nutty in my own hospital.  Here, it is the moms who
really expect to be able to sleep all night, and have baby cared for in the
nursery - and since this is the culture here, the nurses don't do much to
try to encourage moms to keep their babies at night.  The other night I was
in house most of the night with one of my own labor patients.  She had great
family support, so I spent most of the night with a very fussy newborn.
Poor little thing was rooting all over me, sucked down 2 oz of formula in a
just a few minutes with that desperate gulping new babies do with a bottle
that flows too fast.  Then she spit up all over the place, and desperately
sucked on a pacifier.  She was only quiet when I held her tightly and
bounced her gently.  The night nurse twice went out to try to encourage the
mom to take her baby back, but mom insisted she was tired, and told the
nurse they could just let the baby cry "if necessary."  This was not my
patient, so I have no say whatsoever, and really no business trying to
comfort the poor little thing other than I can't bear to see a miserable
baby.  That poor baby did not belong in a stranger's arms for several hours,
when she was desperately, obviously searching for the familar scent and feel
of her mother.  The parents actually complained the next day that the night
nurses were "spoiling" their baby by holding her most of the night.
I don't know how to go about changing this idea around here.  It's almost
physically painful to me to see some of these unhappy babies - especially
the ones who are practically shouting that they want to breastfeed in
newborn body language, but are denied even a single taste of their mother's
milk.  I try hard to encourage my own patients, even bottlefeeding ones, to
keep their babies close the whole time after birth, but I'm not always
successful.
Would love to hear if anyone has any great ideas for encouraging parents to
view nighttime needs as just as important as daytime ones, especially in the
very early days!
Jennifer Tieman
Family Physician
Mom to 4, including my toddler nursling Caroline Rose

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