Brenda I love your idea!
Weather a hospital is baby or mother friendly or not, is kind of a moot
point these days, you are booted out the door so fast.
When I had my first child, having just moved to a small country town, no
friends or family I was very much on my own, in reflection it was quite a
lonely experience. Having some where to stay longer than a few days, for
women who have no support would make all the difference. It would be
fantastic to see a trust started for lower income women who could apply to
the trust to have a doula for support during the birth and in the first
weeks and months (maybe it could be government funded??? here's hoping). I
am only just being to realise how important the experience a mother has in
the first few weeks and months of her babys life really is to her, what an
imprint it leaves on her heart and psyche.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Glare & Chris Bright" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au>
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 6:03 AM
Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Mother friendly hospitals
Hi,
I really disagree that baby friendly hospitals are OK for the baby but
tough on the mother. And if your baby friendly hospital is tough on the
mother, then you should be looking at why - because it shouldn't be that
way. The newborn mother and baby are a unit. They both surely need to be
cared for as though they were one. I think it's part of the problem of
society that mothers and babies are pitted against each other almost from
birth.
Mothers and babies are both usually happier and calmer when together. If
a mother is of the believe that she needs the baby away from her to rest,
a common enough belief in our society, maybe all that needs to happen is a
little empathy and good explanations from the staff "I know you are tired,
but what we find is that mothers and babies actually rest better when they
rest together." Just like you would explain to a mum that she doesn't need
to rush off straight away and have a shower - there'll be time for that
later. Her baby needs to smell her familiar smell and get to know his mum
(and breastfeed)
Surely hospitals can be flexible enough for staff to take the baby for a
while if needed - carrying in a sling is great modelling for the mum and
keeps baby calm, or dad or grandma can help out.
For every mother I hear when I'm assessing baby friendly hopitals who say
they would have liked a nursery, I hear many, many more whom the staff
told that they must be tired and they would take the baby so the mother
could rest - the mothers lay unsleeping and rigid in their beds, worrying
if that baby they could hear crying was their baby.
Barb
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au>
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 12:27 AM
Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Mother friendly hospitals
Wouldn't it ?
I always say baby - friendly is OK for the baby but often it's really
tough on the mothers.
We ought to be able to do service to both, compromise being the operative
word.
The old days of 'lying in & convalescing' were good for mothers & babies,
I agree with the previous post about too much being expected of new
mothers. Especially after a C/S which after all is major surgery.
Yes, birth is a natural process but never the less it's exhausting, hard,
manual & mental labour. Women need to recover & recuperate to cope with
the demands of mothering, feeding & running a household.
The old 'lying in hospitals ' were not such a bad idea were they ? In
fact I've often thought of the need for a private facility offering those
services nowadays. Like an extended stay unit where women go post birth
for 1 or 2 weeks & get fed,nurtured, educated, assisted with feeding,
shown postnatal exercises, encouraged to rest, have massages, see
naturopaths re healing remedies if needed etc.
In fact Wholistic Care !!
What do you think ?
Idealistic ??
Dean & Jo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Ahhh!
mother friendly hospitals...now that would be worth pursuing!
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