In relation to hospital feeding procedures

[Rhio92]

It does seem unfair to FFmums... If they can't leave their LOs, they still need to eat. Surely it's cheaper to offer parents food than to treat them in A & E when they pass out after not eating all day?
When I took Connor to hospital, he was only there about 6 hours, and they gave me a sandwich. You could say it's because I BF, however, they also gave my mum one too.

 

[Blah11]

I never knew there was such differances between hospitals.
My hospital have always been brilliant, when LO was born and we had a lot of trouble getting him to latch they offered formula but I already had some of the cartons in my bag just in case and they where great about offering steralising equipment and a place to make them up.
When LO was in hospital at 5weeks the nurses where great about offering me tea, sandwiches and such ( I never asked for them) because we had got in quite late and asked if we needed any premade formula.
I also got offered breakfast and lunch the next day.
Also the nurses where great if you needed to pop out at all, phone reception was bad at the time so a couple of times I had to pop out to make a call or go collect his bags and car seat from the car and the nurses where glad enough to keep an eye on LO while I was gone a few minutes.
I even came back one time during the night to find one of the nurses walking up and down with LO singing to him because he had woken up while I was gone, he loves a girl in uniform
I was pretty much offered everything I could need while there, formula, nappies, food for myself even something to read and I just always nievly thought thats what most hospitals where like, im shocked to find out differently.

Another thing we where offered that it seems no where else realy does is even OH was given toast, sanwiches and coffee when I was having LO

My OH and mum were too !

 

[summer rain]

I think it varies from hospital to hospital/nhs trust to nhs trust. My local NHS trust/hospitals do not support BF mums, there is only one room for a mum to stay in on the SCBU ward and they do not admit children under a certain age to the childrens ward any longer (where parents can stay), they certainly don't provide meals to any parent whether they be BFing or FFing their child. The restaurant was at least a quarter of a mile walk on the other side of the complex and the more nearby cafe and shop were barely open. I was not allowed to stay in and BF my son overnight either and they insisted on giving him formula even though I was not really happy with it; they admitted him so late at night it was impossible to express enough milk. I had about half an hour, under extreme pressure and crying because they said I had to leave my LO even though the MW who bullied us into getting his jaundice levels tested said they do allow mums to stay and she knows that for a fact. They would not listen that two of my other boys had severe dairy and other allergies either and I was told by one of the nurses that they would have had to insist he had formula at some point because they can only discharge babies from SCBU if they can drink formula well from a bottle, on his discharge notice they put feeding method 'formula from a bottle' even.

 

[OmiOmen]

It is unfair not to allow a parent (mum OR dad) not to eat. I think they do not let you heat food up in case they get sued if it is not heated properly but I am not sure. I had a lot of stays in hospital when pregnant and we could bring food in but not heat it. If they do not allow food heated elsewhere or cold food then that is just ridiculous!

I had a 1 night stay in the children's ward when DS was a few weeks old (just turned out to be reflux problems but they keep a close eye on anyone pregnant or under 2 at Derby hospital) and as a breastfeeding mother they made a big effort to make sure I had plenty to eat and drink. I do not think it is so much about encouraging BF'ing/discourager FF'ing as making sure the baby is getting decent food because if you are BF'ing you need to eat and drink to keep the quality up. Do not get be wrong I am not saying someone not BF'ing (once again, I am including farther's here) does not need to eat and drink just that the reason someone other than the patient is getting it is more than likely that it has a direct correlation with the babies food source thus effecting the patient. But they had a little kitchen where parents could help themselves to tea/coffee and toast so my husband got pretty much the same treatment as me except the jug of juice that I got and to be fair he could get water and although the first few weeks of BF'ing really are thirsty work I could have had water just like him and it would not have bothered me. I did not expect different treatment but the way they said things made it pretty clear as they ended most sentences with "...because you a breastfeeding mother." but maybe that is because my hospital is so pro-BF'ing.

 

[going_crazy]

Wow, hospitals really do differ!
When LO was in PICU, no meals or hot drinks were allowed in but you could have a small snack & cold drink, but when we were up on HDU and on the ward BFing mummies were given 3 meals a day and all formula was provided. I am a FF mummy, and I wasn't offered a meal, but I could go and get anything I wanted and bring it back to the HDU/ward. If it needed heating, you could use the parents room at the end of the ward and bring it back to the bed.
In PICU, there is a nurse at the end of each bed, in HDU there is 1 nurse to 2 patients, and all children are hooked up to monitors and on the ward there is 1 nurse to 3 patients and all children are hooked up to monitors (but this could be because it's a cardiac ward). I could leave LO at anytime and I did - safe in the knowledge that she would be well and truly looked after.

In my local hospital, when I stayed there with DD3, no adults were offered meals (all children were over 1), but all children were given 3 meals a day and adults were welcome to get something and bring it back to the bedside (hot or cold) but there were no hot drinks allowed on the ward.

Anyway......

I agree that BFing mummies should be given meals as they are in turn providing meals for the actual patient (the baby) and the hospital wouldn't be doing it's job properly if they weren't making sure that the patient was being fed.
FF mummies don't need to be fed by the hospital as there is no gain to the patient.

I do think, though, that meals could be more readily available for FFing mummies to buy, as sometimes the canteen is miles away from the ward!!

 

[Char.due.jan]

I agree that BFing mummies should be given meals as they are in turn providing meals for the actual patient (the baby) and the hospital wouldn't be doing it's job properly if they weren't making sure that the patient was being fed.
FF mummies don't need to be fed by the hospital as there is no gain to the patient.

^^^^

This!!

 

[Chocciebutton]

If I was in this situation I would be one who doesnt breastfeed, not through choice though as I cannot breastfeed due to medication I have to take daily for life and it would pass through my milk to the baby, it would be dangerous if I stopped taking my medication in order to breastfeed. They could at least try to allocate a time slot for you to enable to go and get a meal to bring back or the time to eat in the canteen.

 

[Tasha]

My little boy had menigitis when he was six weeks old, he was provided formula when he was well enough to cope with it. I barely ate for the time that he was in. There was a mum there, who was BF and with her LO 24/7, after a few days her supply had gone right down and they couldnt figure out why but it turned out she had had one banana in 48 hours, they gave her food and drink because he needed the breast milk in order to help him get better.

 

[Tegans Mama]

In our hospital they provide food for the children, whether that be formula for young babies, or specific dietary needs for older children.

Tegan always goes on the neuro ward and they are great. They have a fridge with yogurts and sandwiches in and you can ask for things when they want it. They have bottles of cows milk, and formula too.

When she was in hospital when she was first born (from birth until 8.5 weeks) she was given formula (first through a feeding tube and then via bottle - she was nil by mouth from birth until about 24 hours old though), the hospital provided nappies and baby wipes also, but I think it is different on a neonatal surgical ward compared to "just" a normal childrens ward

I think they SHOULD provide formula. It will always be mothers choice whether to BF or not.