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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They cannot deny your request.

Of course they can. They don’t have a nursery or the staff for it and they will tell you that if you ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They cannot deny your request.

Of course they can. They don’t have a nursery or the staff for it and they will tell you that if you ask.

My mother is an OB nurse and has taken babies out to the nurses' station informally if a mother is having a really hard time or requests a little sleep.

[Anonymous]

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)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They cannot deny your request.

Of course they can. They don’t have a nursery or the staff for it and they will tell you that if you ask.

My mother is an OB nurse and has taken babies out to the nurses' station informally if a mother is having a really hard time or requests a little sleep.

and she is one person. At the hospital I delivered at I asked for the baby to go to a nursery they said flat out said no we can’t do that and didn’t take the baby or even help me with the baby in my room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They cannot deny your request.

Of course they can. They don’t have a nursery or the staff for it and they will tell you that if you ask.

My mother is an OB nurse and has taken babies out to the nurses' station informally if a mother is having a really hard time or requests a little sleep.

and she is one person. At the hospital I delivered at I asked for the baby to go to a nursery they said flat out said no we can’t do that and didn’t take the baby or even help me with the baby in my room.

+1 PP’s mom must work at some magical hospital that has so much staff that mom has time to just kick back at the nurses station and care for a baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

They cannot deny your request.

Of course they can. They don’t have a nursery or the staff for it and they will tell you that if you ask.

My mother is an OB nurse and has taken babies out to the nurses' station informally if a mother is having a really hard time or requests a little sleep.

and she is one person. At the hospital I delivered at I asked for the baby to go to a nursery they said flat out said no we can’t do that and didn’t take the baby or even help me with the baby in my room.

+1 PP’s mom must work at some magical hospital that has so much staff that mom has time to just kick back at the nurses station and care for a baby.

No, it's a crappy rural hospital, actually. I was just trying to make the point that while the entire system tends to suck, there is the odd nurse here or there who tries to buck the "baby friendly" nonsense.

I had the same sh*t hospital experience as you guys, fwiw. Constant monitoring, bright lights, lactation consultants bugging the hell out of me at all hours when sleep + formula would have been just fine.

[Anonymous]

I had an earlier-than-planned induction due to pre-eclampsia and was on magnesium, and my baby was born with IUGR at 4 pounds 37 weeks. "baby-friendly" hospital, but there was a night nursery, and they took him until he cried for food (not long). He was a sleepy newborn, so it actually wasn't so bad to have him in the room with me. I brought an eye mask for lights and headphones because that is just needed for me to relax in stimulating places.

I would 100% go for a "mom-friendly" hospital next time, even though it wasn't so bad.

[Anonymous]

At one point , just through timing, we had 5 people in our room ( nurse, tech, custodial staff , photo lady , patient coordinator or whatever ) all just letting themselves in…. we had a sign at some point, didn’t seem like it helped. I was overwhelmed and delirious from interruptions. ( my baby was a great sleeper!). At this point I started crying. My DH , bless him, said ‘there are too many people in this room. Some of you need to leave.’ And they listened to him. But not the tired, in pain, miserable woman crying in the bed who just had surgery.

What’s the solution? what will cause this to change?

[Anonymous]

Because they hate us

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because they hate us

It’s this right here.

I gave birth at GW and could definitely sense that they hated me.

[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.

Yeah, I don’t understand the question either. Most new moms don’t want their baby in a far away nursery all night.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I feel so badly for women who need to subject themselves to hospital regulations while giving birth to their babies.

They don't need to. There are options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I feel so badly for women who need to subject themselves to hospital regulations while giving birth to their babies.

They don't need to. There are options.

Right. Read threads like this with appalling maternal care stories and the same people who think hospitals have horrible policies do an about face and act like the people who admit to home births are monsters.

My planned home birth with midwives was supportive of both my rest and recovery and the care and bonding of my baby. Sorry to hear of women have psychotic breaks in hospital settings.