Lactnetters,
I was contacted by a colleague at a hospital with what seems to me as a severe
policy. If a mother with a substance abusing history has a baby in their NICU,
she is not allowed to store her expressed milk in the hospital, for fear of
accidental switching of mothers' milk. I guess the fear is of possibly
exposing another baby to any substance this mother might be using or, of
course,  HIV(?). This is for mothers who deliver with negative tox screens,
and may be in recovery programs, but they had positive screens in the past.
The hospital in question also has nurses double check any expressed milk given
with another nurse. I have seen hospitals double checking milk, but to forbid
her to store milk in the hospital freezer sounds extreme.
Has anyone else experienced policies like this?
Fritzi Drosten RN, IBCLC
Piedmont CA