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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because there is a hungry baby and mom is the best one to feed it? (If she wants to try nursing)

This isn’t a corporate trick. It’s biology.

So you’re saying if a woman doesn’t want to breastfeed then the hospital should let her sleep quietly, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work as a nurse. We wake people up multiple times in the night to check their vital signs, give meds, and draw blood. Those post-surgery patients are not getting a restful night of sleep.

those patients should have their sleep protected too. not to mention that a woman with an uncomplicated vaginal birth does not need vitals checked.

disrupted sleep in the hospital was absolutely nightmarish for me post-partum. like, I actually almost felt delusional the second night.

Me too! I couldn’t believe how often someone was coming in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are called “baby-friendly” hospitals (lol)

I think babies should be able to go to a nursery from 9pm-9am.

This is literally why. They have metrics they need to hit to keep their "baby friendly" certification and percentage of rooming in babies is a significant one. After experiencing this I realized it would be more appropriate to name them "mother unfriendly."

[Anonymous]

I can’t imagine letting my baby out of my sight in those first hours and days! There is no way I would have let someone take my babies to a nursery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t imagine letting my baby out of my sight in those first hours and days! There is no way I would have let someone take my babies to a nursery.

Do you want a cookie?

[Anonymous]

Completely agree with you, OP. I cannot believe I didn't insist on my baby being taken to the nursery after a 32+hour labor and emergency induction. "Baby-friendly" is a joke.

[Anonymous]

Wait, are there hospitals that will not let you send the baby to the hospital in between feedings? Like they actually do more than encourage you to keep the baby in your room, they actually say "no"????? I didn't know this was a thing. I admit its been a while but for each of my deliveries I requested this and it was not a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work as a nurse. We wake people up multiple times in the night to check their vital signs, give meds, and draw blood. Those post-surgery patients are not getting a restful night of sleep.

I’ve had a couple surgeries and given birth 3x now. At least with the surgeries I wasn’t left to take care of another human being after being awake for 24+ hours and exhausted from labor and delivery. Rooming in is awful for mothers and frankly unsafe. The nurses yell at you not to fall asleep while holding the baby, but my babies wouldn’t go more than 30-60 min. tops without crying unless held. It was terrible. Thankfully with my first my husband stayed to help, but with the other 2 we had other kid(s) for him to go back to.

My middle kid needed a night in the NICU and actually being able to rest/recover that first night after giving birth was so amazing. With my third I left 24 hours after giving birth because I was miserable having no help. The nursery was still closed in summer 2022 “because COVID” aka hospitals trying to save money.

Post-surgery recovery is a cake walk compared to taking care of a day old baby while exhausted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because there is a hungry baby and mom is the best one to feed it? (If she wants to try nursing)

This isn’t a corporate trick. It’s biology.

My kid who I BF the longest spent his first day and a half in the NICU. For non NICU babies they could still get plenty of skin to skin and a feeding every 3-4 hours with time in the nursery in between so mom can rest without a baby to care for. It’s absurd how in the US a woman goes through an exhausting event of delivering a human into the world and is then fully responsible for caring for that baby on her own with essentially no care for herself. And the hospital bills for the baby as a patient too, but mom is doing all the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because there is a hungry baby and mom is the best one to feed it? (If she wants to try nursing)

This isn’t a corporate trick. It’s biology.

NP. I was happy to nurse the baby. But the nurses were waking me up throughout the night to check my vital signs, give me Advil, etc. So I didn’t sleep basically at all in the hospital and checked out as soon as I could.z

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because there is a hungry baby and mom is the best one to feed it? (If she wants to try nursing)

This isn’t a corporate trick. It’s biology.

So you’re saying if a woman doesn’t want to breastfeed then the hospital should let her sleep quietly, right?

If it makes sense medically. I hemorrhaged after birth and they checked my vitals often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, are there hospitals that will not let you send the baby to the hospital in between feedings? Like they actually do more than encourage you to keep the baby in your room, they actually say "no"????? I didn't know this was a thing. I admit its been a while but for each of my deliveries I requested this and it was not a problem.

No, that is not happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are called “baby-friendly” hospitals (lol)

I think babies should be able to go to a nursery from 9pm-9am.

This is literally why. They have metrics they need to hit to keep their "baby friendly" certification and percentage of rooming in babies is a significant one. After experiencing this I realized it would be more appropriate to name them "mother unfriendly."

This is it exactly. It's all about the "baby-friendly" facilities right now - to hell with the mother or her need for recovery. Much as it purports to be about breastfeeding and "bonding," it's basically pushing as much work as possible to the new parents even though they are still paying to be in the hospital. They may as well just go home, the hospital isn't supporting them much.

Childbirth (c-section and often vaginal too, if you have tears) is equivalent to having surgery following hours of stress and physical exertion, but despite being battered and exhausted, women are expected to immediately take care of a hungry crying newborn instead of getting some sleep. It's barbaric. Women in other countries have actual support after giving birth.

And people wonder why postpartum depression is such a problem in this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because there is a hungry baby and mom is the best one to feed it? (If she wants to try nursing)

This isn’t a corporate trick. It’s biology.

So you’re saying if a woman doesn’t want to breastfeed then the hospital should let her sleep quietly, right?

If it makes sense medically. I hemorrhaged after birth and they checked my vitals often.

Too bad given birth isn’t medical reason enough for you to understand why it’s important for hospitals to have nurseries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, are there hospitals that will not let you send the baby to the hospital in between feedings? Like they actually do more than encourage you to keep the baby in your room, they actually say "no"????? I didn't know this was a thing. I admit its been a while but for each of my deliveries I requested this and it was not a problem.

No, that is not happening.

Tell me you haven’t given birth recently without telling me you haven’t given birth recently.