I hope you don't mind

Being that I eventually want to be an OB nurse, I took real interest with the LC when I did rounds, and I helped someone breastfeed today!! Poor baby was SO hungry (due for a feed at 7:30 - didn't make it out to mom until 9 when the pediatrician came in to assess her !!!) anyway the baby wouldn't latch because she was inconsolable (mom was doing bottle/breast) so I taught her a trick that I read from you ladies - gave her a few sucks from the bottle till she calmed herself, and then helped her latch!!! It was cool - and mom was VERY happy....

so if you ladies don't mind I'm going to celebrate my OB accomplishments today - and hopefully through the summer as I applied and interviewed for an internship in OB in a teaching hospital...

 

Mind? Way To GO!!!! My only question was why was the baby away from it's mom for so long. Hospitals can be very helpful to nursing moms but sometimes they hinder. Looks like you're getting into the right field for you!

 

all babies go to the nursery at 7 am shift change for assessments (both the nursing and pedi staff)...not sure if she spent the night in the nursery or not as I didn't get in until 7:30...at any rate the pedi had 6 babies in the nursery to assess and this little girl just had the disadvantage of being last in the row...

ETA - the mom was more than willing to let me help her too!

 

That's awesome, Amy!!!

 

That's so great Amy; both that you were able to help and that you've found your calling.

 

Very cool! I'm really enjoying following your nursing journey.

Maybe once you're working you can encourage a more baby friendly approach to assessments that don't involve separating mom & babe.

 

or at least not until they've fed - there are a LOT of unhappy babies (not all are BF'ed - they are very baby friendly but still leave the choice to the mom) when I come in at 7 AM usually...the funny thing is after the pedi's come in they go out to the mom's room to speak to the parents - I don't know why they can't assess in the rooms....oh well not for me to question at this point!

 

I'm so excited that you got that baby to nurse!!! My Sebastian seriously was that baby- when he wouldn't nurse I got so worried about him I'd cry. My nurses were great with assisting me on his latch, too.

Yeah, baby-friendly hospitals can do all newborn assessments in the room. My little girl had hers from the pedi in the room 2 weeks ago. I would have NOT been happy to have her gone from me for a couple of hours and hungry.

 

That's awesome, WTG!!

There's no reason they can't do assessments in the rooms, my oldest dd and the twins were all with me in my room and the only time they left was for the hearing test, and for my son's circumcision. The pedi team came in each morning to check on the babies. It was so nice!! I wish more hospital's would be like that

 

That's super cool!

I've given birth in 3 different hospitals and none of them have taken the baby from me for anything, except Sabrina's short (1 hour) trip to NICU for breathing observation, and then again when they had to make sure she got enough oxygen while strapped in the carseat before we went home, because she was preemie size. All assessments and tests were done in my room. I just sort of thought that all hospitals were this way now. One of the hospitals didn't even have a nursery, except for NICU. But it was a very pro-breastfeeding hospital so maybe that's why? One had a nursery where the baby could go if you wanted while you showered or something, but it was still expected that the babies would sleep in room. The last one did have a nursery you could opt to use while you slept, but assessments were still in-room... at least for us.

 

I wonder if its an East Coast phenomenon?

 

The first hospital I delivered in (Twins) there was a nursery but the second one did not, no option as far as I know. The 2nd one was bigger than the first. I received better support at the smaller first one.

 

The hospital I'm at is in the top 10 for Maternity care in the country (private NICU rooms etc)...it surprises me that there isn't more rooming in, but they do leave it up to the parents - big on choice...wonder how that's going to change now that it is a for-profit hospital

 

That's awesome! Great job. I will tell you from the other side of the picture that it is A LOT more work for the pediatrician to do exams in the room for a busy hospital and that is why many don't do it. I work at a hospital with the "baby friendly" designation. We recently went to doing exams in the room and with 20 + babies on our service a day we are often running several hours behind schedule from what we did when we were able to examine and chart on all the babies in the nursery. Sounds like you will make a great OB nurse. It is surprising how many OB nurses do not know much about breastfeeding or even roll their eyes at the LC because they have their own ideas how the baby should be fed. I have even argued with nurses about supplementation (they want me to order supplementation, I refuse).

 

You rock! Sounds like you will be the kind of nurse I would love to have!

 

The LC's in the hospital I'm at handle supplementation orders and I've heard the nurses discuss the protocol as well - they do not supplement until the infant has lost a full 10% of body weight and even then they do the rule of 15's - 15 minutes on each breast and then 15 mL of formula if indicated...but they do not suggest going to formula completely - and they also encourage mom's to pump and supplement with their own milk...

quite a bit of the Latina population does what they describe as breast/bottle - they bottle feed until their milk comes in completely and then switch to the breast exclusively - seems to work for them!

 

oh and thanks everyone for the support...my OB rotation is over now and I didn't get to see any babies born hopefully this summer!