Do they ALWAYS take the baby away?

[9jawife]

So, I have a Birth Plan in the works, plan on transferring to a Midwife (yes, my OB approves) AND hiring a private (not hospital affiliated) doula to help enforce my wishes. Originally, I wanted a home birth, but have pretty much decided that it is too much risk. If something happened that could've been prevented in a hospital setting, I would never forgive myself. Anyway, even with all these plans I'm still worried about a few things. Mainly, them taking my son away from me and giving him formula. I've heard of this happening before...with perfectly healthy babies! It's insane. Also heard of records getting mixed up and boys getting circumcised that were not supposed to be. I do NOT want Jayden mutilated er, I mean circumcised! Can you tell I'm opinionated? Do they insist on taking all babies away and giving them a bottle/s? This is pretty much a dealbreaker; my Plan stipulates that he not be separated from me at any time except briefly to clean him and give him eye drops. If that's not possible i don't know that I can birth in the hospital after all. Thanks

 

[chulie]

Well I'm in Ontario Canada and no...that baby never left my side. In fact the hospital I was in was super "pro breast" and actually assumed I was before I even said anything. They even sent a hosptial lactation consultant around a few hours after birth to check in on me and ask me if i had any question! it was great!!My daughter was born, they quickly weighed her right beside me, checked her apgar score and she immediately went on my chest for skin to skin. We stayed there for hours. The only time they took her away was for the test done 24 hours after birth where they test hearing and for all kinda if diseases...even then my hubby was with her. In fact, in our hospital tour they made it super clear no one should ever be asking to take your baby away without you there and if they ever do to ring the desk because you should always be with your baby every minute!!! If that's your hospitals rules I'd either be looking elsewhere or since you sound as opinionated as I was....just make it VERY clear what your wishes are!! They will follow wether they like it or not! Hahahaa

 

[Misslatino]

I'm in Arizona and they don't take the baby out of the room at all unless there is an emergency situation. They also ask ahead of time what your plans are for feeding and I've never heard of any baby getting formula without the mothers permission unless the babies blood sugar dropped or something. Here you have to pay for circumcision so it doesn't happen without consent. Your wishes don't seem unreasonable at all. Should have no problem with the hospital fully cooperating.

 

[Kellen]

I had a hospital birth with a midwife and it was awesome. We had contemplated a home birth, but opted for a hospital water birth (good thing too!). And no, after Teagen was born they immediately put her on my chest and allowed us to snuggle. The lactation consultant came in and taught us how to latch. After she had a snack they weighed her, measured her all in the same room and DH was right by her the entire time. As I recovered she was on my chest. She stopped breathing. DH immediately got a nurse. It was only at this time that she was whisked away to the NICU and placed on a respirator for two days. The NICU doctor told us he had read our birth plan and understood that we didn't want formula, but her blood sugar was low. He agreed to let us try breastfeeding, but if the levels did not rise she would be given formula. Thankfully she rallied with the feed and I pumped at home at night and fed her in the NICU during the day. If she hadn't crashed she would have been with us 100% of the time and never offered a bottle.

 

[daydreaming22]

Not at all hun. The baby will be with you unless they are being checked in the nursery by the DR. My nurse put a sign on my LOs cradle that said NO formula NO pacifier. They actually encourage breastfeeding so you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[skeet9924]

I'm from Canada abd Carson was put on my chest as soon as he was born.. After a few minutes they did all the tests and weight right in my room then he was back on my chest.. Even all the tests done in the hospital were done right in my room

 

[Kiwi_Jen]

I had my first in Washington state, and he was never taken away. He had a little sign on his bassinet that listed his name, birth time and stated "I'm a breastfed baby, I need to stay with my mom" or something like that. It was really cute.

I would check with your hospital, there are certain breastfeeding standards that some hospitals try to meet, so it might differ from place to place.

 

[xxlovexx]

I'm in the US..after my DS was born, they asked if I planned to BF or FF...they circled BF on the paper in his bassinet. (Delivered at hospital...don't think they do home births in my area ) After reading somewhere on here that some hospitals give formula against parents' wishes, I got a little paranoid...although I really don't think DS got any formula since the only time he was away from me was right after birth (still in the room with me though) and when they needed to do his bath, PKU, etc; - there were 3 or 4 different pediatricians that saw him but they didn't take him out of the room...did everything that needed done right there by my bed. (I wish I would have sent DH down for his bath and stuff...I'm not sure if our hospital allows it though) Our nurses wrote down not to circumcise and were very supportive...I was actually more worried that the hospital would get my baby mixed up with a different one...haha luckily everyone says DS looks just like DH, so I'm confident I got the right baby . (even though his name, my last name, and all that was on his card as well in his bassinet and we both had the wrist/ankle bands on lol..so not sure why I was worried about getting the wrong baby) I was never asked if I wanted them to take baby for a while so I could sleep, etc; he stayed beside me....maybe go to L&D at the hospital and ask if you're too worried?

 

[xxlovexx]

I've heard good things about having a doula! I don't think we have midwives/doulas around here but I could be wrong!

 

[snowfia]

Well, I'm in the UK so I'm not sure about the US.
But my LO was never taken away from me and they definitely shouldn't do anything without your permission.