I often struggle with this, we have so many different nurses with thier own
philosophies and ideas of what to do if the baby does not eat well every 3
hours and sleep contentedly in bassinet in between!  The most common thing
that I see is that they go in the nursery.  If they don't sleep and fuss,
they go in the swing, if they fuss alot and it has "only" been an hour since
he left mom, then I have seen them give 10cc formula. ackk!!

I am lucky, my nurse manager is supportive of bedding in and the house staff
is, too she says.  So despite what some of the old timers think, with my
patients, and those I help (I am night shift) I almost always help them into
the sidelying position with pillow tucked snugly behind mom's back,
sometimes a pillow between the knees if they want (I always ask because some
don't), the bed is mostly flat, baby is flat on matress with a rolled up
flannel blanket tucked behind back, and a pillow (ours are hard and flat,
yuck!) tucked between rail and bed.  I always make sure mom is scooted up to
the top of the bed and to one side as if to make room for another person
(and she is!).  I always stress to use common sense about safety as you
would if baby were in a crib.  I make sure I point out everything I did to
ensure that they are ok there and that it is ok if mom falls asleep.  I also
make sure anything mom needs is in her reach, and if dad is there, I show
him what I did so that he can do it after they get home and tell him how
important he is in helping mom in this way.

I always come in a room and find mom's bed all the way up, they are sitting
up and thier eyelids are heavy and thier poor stitched and swollen bottoms
are sore as well, thier back is sore, etc.  no wonder they want a break from
nursing!  So I tell them that I need to show them another way to nurse, that
since not many people have hospital beds at home that sit them up, that we
are doing this as a learning experience because once she is at home she will
want some alternatives.  I use this time to explain the surg of prolactin
that may make them sleepy and it will feel good to lay horizontal when
nursing sometimes.

I can't help every mom, sometimes we have 30 moms on our unit, I resign
myself to feeling good about the ones I do help.

It helps to know that there is no policy (in our hospital) that says they
can't bed in, and
that it is personal opinion that nurses give to the patients.  I just had a
couple that I got them bedded in as above and before I showed them how, they
told me that they were told they couldn't.  I said that the lactation and
physicians were supportive of it and that  what they heard the nurse tell
them was probably her personal opinion.  They had a great night and I felt
real good about helping them.  I also think it helpped them to see how there
is no black and white in parenting.

good luck!  I find fussy babies and tired parents one of my biggest
challenges after latch on problems! (which could probably be avoided by
getting rid of the nursery and stressing skin to skin and bedding in)

Janette RN Mother/ baby nurse Portland, OR