Why don’t U.S. hospitals let women sleep quietly for the night in the hospital after giving birth?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And put the baby in a nursery room for the night. The recovery should be treated like recovery from a surgery; no interrupting sleep.

Gave birth in a birth center twice, and was happily home in my own bed within 6-8 hours of giving birth.
You do you .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one sleeps in the hospital. Everyone gets checks. Use the bassinet. Have someone stay with you.

No one sleeps well in a hospital. True. Everyone gets checks. True. But no other hospital patients besides new mothers are expected to take care of another hospital patient.” (The baby)

Welcome to parenthood?

That’s not how it has to be and you know it. Parents deserve help. Especially when they’re in the freakin hospital and just gave birth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one sleeps in the hospital. Everyone gets checks. Use the bassinet. Have someone stay with you.

No. The baby is a patient and should be cared for by hospital staff. Not by another patient that just had an intensive medical procedure.

This is such a strange perspective to me. I had two c-sections, and my husband spent the night in the room with me and lifted our baby, changed her diaper, brought her to me. The nurses did bring her to the nursery for a little while, but I much preferred my baby with me. As for sleep, ha, I had insomnia most of my pregnancy and I was used to go without. I slept when she slept and it all worked out!

It’s strange to you that not everyone had your experience? Do you realize that not everyone has a partner who can/does stay with them to help w the baby? Or you think everyone who gives birth has your same situation? With our first my husband was there to help. W our second, my husband had to be home w our first kid and there was no one else w me so I was totally on my own. Nurses didn’t help me w baby at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one sleeps in the hospital. Everyone gets checks. Use the bassinet. Have someone stay with you.

No one sleeps well in a hospital. True. Everyone gets checks. True. But no other hospital patients besides new mothers are expected to take care of another hospital patient.” (The baby)

Welcome to parenthood?

Exactly.

It’s a rough rocky start. Most babies do sleep remarkably well that first night. Pack earplugs and an eye mask. It will help with the room dynamics. We got two hour chunks of sleep, which was about the same as at home the first week.

I understand the frustration. It’s the most tired I’ve ever been (multiple day labor), you live through it.

You said “we.” What about women who are alone after giving birth? You sound like you support “baby friendly” hospitals…why? Are you one of those people who thinks “I had to do it so everyone else should to.” You wrote “You live through it…” so that makes me think you believe that it’s fine for hospitals and nurses to not help new mothers care for infants and that mothers shouldn’t complain. Well, I lived through it twice but that doesn’t mean I think it’s good that new mothers and babies are not supported and cared for in the hospital like they should be. If we just accept that this is the way, things will not improve. It doesn’t have to be this way. Postpartum care and maternal health care in general in the US is really poor and it should be improved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one sleeps in the hospital. Everyone gets checks. Use the bassinet. Have someone stay with you.

No one sleeps well in a hospital. True. Everyone gets checks. True. But no other hospital patients besides new mothers are expected to take care of another hospital patient.” (The baby)

Welcome to parenthood?

Exactly.

It’s a rough rocky start. Most babies do sleep remarkably well that first night. Pack earplugs and an eye mask. It will help with the room dynamics. We got two hour chunks of sleep, which was about the same as at home the first week.

I understand the frustration. It’s the most tired I’ve ever been (multiple day labor), you live through it.

You said “we.” What about women who are alone after giving birth? You sound like you support “baby friendly” hospitals…why? Are you one of those people who thinks “I had to do it so everyone else should to.” You wrote “You live through it…” so that makes me think you believe that it’s fine for hospitals and nurses to not help new mothers care for infants and that mothers shouldn’t complain. Well, I lived through it twice but that doesn’t mean I think it’s good that new mothers and babies are not supported and cared for in the hospital like they should be. If we just accept that this is the way, things will not improve. It doesn’t have to be this way. Postpartum care and maternal health care in general in the US is really poor and it should be improved.

Tell your hospital.

Stop assuming things about other people.

[Anonymous]

Griping on a message board changes nothing. Take action in a productive way.

Venting is fine. Debating here is a waste of everyone’s energy. And no you are not educating anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one sleeps in the hospital. Everyone gets checks. Use the bassinet. Have someone stay with you.

No one sleeps well in a hospital. True. Everyone gets checks. True. But no other hospital patients besides new mothers are expected to take care of another hospital patient.” (The baby)

Welcome to parenthood?

Exactly.

It’s a rough rocky start. Most babies do sleep remarkably well that first night. Pack earplugs and an eye mask. It will help with the room dynamics. We got two hour chunks of sleep, which was about the same as at home the first week.

I understand the frustration. It’s the most tired I’ve ever been (multiple day labor), you live through it.

You said “we.” What about women who are alone after giving birth? You sound like you support “baby friendly” hospitals…why? Are you one of those people who thinks “I had to do it so everyone else should to.” You wrote “You live through it…” so that makes me think you believe that it’s fine for hospitals and nurses to not help new mothers care for infants and that mothers shouldn’t complain. Well, I lived through it twice but that doesn’t mean I think it’s good that new mothers and babies are not supported and cared for in the hospital like they should be. If we just accept that this is the way, things will not improve. It doesn’t have to be this way. Postpartum care and maternal health care in general in the US is really poor and it should be improved.

Start a program to make the change then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one sleeps in the hospital. Everyone gets checks. Use the bassinet. Have someone stay with you.

No one sleeps well in a hospital. True. Everyone gets checks. True. But no other hospital patients besides new mothers are expected to take care of another hospital patient.” (The baby)

Welcome to parenthood?

Exactly.

It’s a rough rocky start. Most babies do sleep remarkably well that first night. Pack earplugs and an eye mask. It will help with the room dynamics. We got two hour chunks of sleep, which was about the same as at home the first week.

I understand the frustration. It’s the most tired I’ve ever been (multiple day labor), you live through it.

You said “we.” What about women who are alone after giving birth? You sound like you support “baby friendly” hospitals…why? Are you one of those people who thinks “I had to do it so everyone else should to.” You wrote “You live through it…” so that makes me think you believe that it’s fine for hospitals and nurses to not help new mothers care for infants and that mothers shouldn’t complain. Well, I lived through it twice but that doesn’t mean I think it’s good that new mothers and babies are not supported and cared for in the hospital like they should be. If we just accept that this is the way, things will not improve. It doesn’t have to be this way. Postpartum care and maternal health care in general in the US is really poor and it should be improved.

Start a program to make the change then.

With my first the “program” was just the norm and how hospitals operated. By #2 and #3 I needed to become some sort of activist. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a guy who has now spent the night in the hospital with four different kids (two wives), it never even occurred to me or my wife that a baby would be taken out of the room? wtf? I guess it goes along with how everyone farms out the raising of their children to daycares and nannies and after school programs - might as well get started right away!

But, I do agree, the vital checking makes it a nightmare. What you would like to do is have nurses on standby and then you could call them in to do vitals when the baby is feeding and wake up every 2 hours instead of every 45 minutes.

Maybe your third wife will need a nursery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Griping on a message board changes nothing. Take action in a productive way.

Venting is fine. Debating here is a waste of everyone’s energy. And no you are not educating anyone.

Apparently we are given the number of people posting that 1) still think nurseries exist and 2) think “oh a nurse can just take the baby for a few hours”.

But hey, scroll on by if this thread isn’t for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Griping on a message board changes nothing. Take action in a productive way.

Venting is fine. Debating here is a waste of everyone’s energy. And no you are not educating anyone.

Apparently we are given the number of people posting that 1) still think nurseries exist and 2) think “oh a nurse can just take the baby for a few hours”.

But hey, scroll on by if this thread isn’t for you.

what are you accomplishing here? On this site? You like to monologue. Go for it. Be specific how posting here is effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one sleeps in the hospital. Everyone gets checks. Use the bassinet. Have someone stay with you.

No. The baby is a patient and should be cared for by hospital staff. Not by another patient that just had an intensive medical procedure.

This is such a strange perspective to me. I had two c-sections, and my husband spent the night in the room with me and lifted our baby, changed her diaper, brought her to me. The nurses did bring her to the nursery for a little while, but I much preferred my baby with me. As for sleep, ha, I had insomnia most of my pregnancy and I was used to go without. I slept when she slept and it all worked out!

It’s strange to you that not everyone had your experience? Do you realize that not everyone has a partner who can/does stay with them to help w the baby? Or you think everyone who gives birth has your same situation? With our first my husband was there to help. W our second, my husband had to be home w our first kid and there was no one else w me so I was totally on my own. Nurses didn’t help me w baby at all.

We had a grandparent stay with our first kid so my husband could be in the hospital with me. I think my situation is common. You have unique situation, just say so! It helps people understand more.

[Anonymous]

It's CYA for the hospital.

It's preventable care. If they go too long w/o check-in your vitals and something happens it could have been anticipated, controlled, or highly monitored.
Things like blood pressure can creep up, the bleeding may maybe larger clots than normal, your temperature may indicate onset of an infection....all of which are checked frequently to avoid future disaster especially during those first 25l4hrs post partum when your body is adjusting to post pregnancy, milk production is triggered, hormones fluctuating, uterus trying to constrict, etc.

[Anonymous]

I debated having a home birth for my 3rd or using a midwife/birthing center because then you get to leave after 8 hours. I had traumatic deliveries though and labored for days without sleep, so that clearly wasn't a good option.

I could not STAND postpartum care. There wasn't one good thing there.
-I wanted dh and/or grandparents to be able to rock the baby in a different room so that I could sleep.
-I only wanted to be woken by the baby. I wish nurses could time their colace and ibuprofen to the exact times the baby was nursing at night. Instead I would feed baby, get them to sleep, then be woken 30 min later for colace. It made me want to tear my hair out. And the pediatrician right at 7am? ugh. And I love it when they do bloodwork on the baby and then wheel back in a screaming baby.
-They drove me crazy with the pee and poop diaper and breastfeeding log. Sorry but I'm sleep deprived. I just could not log this shit. If they want me to log poop diapers, they should change the damn baby themselves. The breastfeeding was hilarious too for babies 2 and 3. I had more milk than a dairy cow, so the baby didn't need to clusterfeed. The nurses flipped out on me that the babies weren't nursing enough, but... they didn't need to. I finally got them to weigh the baby to confirm and the baby had gained well.

I just wanted sleep more than anything. With my first, I really feel like the lack of sleep got me to a dangerous place. I was induced and on pitocin for 45 hours before delivery. I didn't sleep and wasn't allowed to eat. I remember shaking while holding the baby. And the damn cafeteria was closed by the time I delivered, so there was no food and I had to order delivery (wtf?! I pay 29k for a birth and can't even get a sandwich?! I was shaking from low blood sugar)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A nurse dedicated to just a few patients would be able to provide medical care with as much deference to the patients' need for sleep and recovery

Absolutely. Understand care costs would go up. For some of us that would be more damaging than lost sleep.

Costs didn’t go down when they implemented this baby friendly crap, the hospitals just got greedy.