mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Its not that long ago since my kids were born ,(well, 30+ years) first one at Queens Park and the second at Rough Lee and in both cases their mother had a "laying-in " of at least 6 or 7 days ,(time for mother to recuperate and bond with the child, stitches to heal etc.) reading the attached news report it seems its now becoming modern practice to send mother and child home asap, sometimes within 4 hours of the birth , surely this is wrong........its 3rd world ......akin to tales of women squatting down in a rice paddy .
I think we have at least one regular member of this group who has experience in midwifery and would be interested in your and other mothers thoughts on this. Considering all the recent news stories about disease ridden hospitals maybe its a good idea , I dont know .
Writing as a male, and I know we are not known for our over tenderness and such , in my day having babies was womens business, but to me sending a mother and her new born home so soon seems wrong, and in no way gives the new father time to sober up . :D


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...8/nhosi108.xml

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

My daughter was only in hospital 6 hours when she was born and thats 10 years ago.If they have reduced it 2 hours in 10 years then according to my reckoning in 20 years they will be dropping in for a couple of minutes :)

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

i was in 5 days after having Reece, that was 10 years ago, but i didnt have a natural birth, Reece came out the sun roof :D

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I was in 3 days with 1st no problems other than to give me respite & establish breatfeeding, 4 days with 2nd due to being born with congenital condition & had to await pediatrics & doctor assessment both born on a friday LOL:D gee a welcome rest from being at home tho lets say i needed the rest!!

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Thats a nice way of putting it LOL:D

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

it also means i'm neat and tidy ;)

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I know at Royal Blackburn its 6hr discharge, I had a 6 hour discharge 10 weeks ago when I had Robert, it was my choice, they asked me if I wanted to stay in but I didn't want to, Robert is my second child and there were no complications and I wanted to go home, I dont see anything wrong in it you have to meet all the criteria to be able to go home they dont just throw you out.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I was in 3 days after having Harry in March 2006. But I had been in nearly 4 days of labour. They didn't tell me I had to go or ask me when I wanted to, I'd probably be still sat there now, if the woman in the next bed hadnt told me I had to ask to leave then a doctor would be sent for and I would be checked over, given any drugs needed. Only then could I go, and it took a day for the doctor to come. It didnt bother me though, they were all very helpful and very caring.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I don't see a problem as long as everything's normal. I had my first child in 1964 and I had to stay in hospital 12 days, although I'd only had a 4 hour labour and was as fit as a flea. It was hospital policy and we were all going stir-crazy.

Eighteen months later I had my second child - at home. Not a lot of bed-rest with a new-born and a toddler.

My last one was born in 1975. I went into hospital for the birth, had her at 3.15 p.m. and went home at 9.30 the next morning. As far as I was concerned, that was 12 hours too long a stay.

As long as the home provisions are good and the home nursing service is good I'm sure most mothers would prefer to get home as quickly as possible.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I was in 3 days with my first ( stitched upto the eyeballs ) lol :)

Second was Very easy labor - No stitches and I had him at 5:46am and I went home at 5pm same night. Again I was offered to stay, and they wanted me to stay in over night but I still had a little darling at home waiting for Mummy and I couldn't get out fast enough. As a mother I think a lady can rest more at home with her new baby. No offence but it isn't the dads that have to stay on a ward - full of other mothers and babies throughout the night....no fun when your baby is as good as gold but you're still kept awake by 9 other babies crying throughout the night.

There is nothing more appealing for a mother than to get home, put her feet up, and cuddle her new baby in her own home without feeling like a gold fish.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Wow, there is only 2 stitches in a sack of spuds, 1 at each end :rolleyes: :D

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Its interesting hearing you all say that you couldn't wait to get home, I was petrified to go home. I was in a lot of pain, very emotional, struggled changing him, didnt have a clue how to bath him, and I was on my own (although I had my parents). I'm sure every first time mother feels the same, but it just felt like I was the only one in this situation and that I was useless. So I didn't actually want to go home.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I was allowed out the next day-and that wasn't quick enough for me because jack slept most of the time so i was settling other womens babies so i could get some rest.As for not knowing what to do-i just got on with it and the midwives didn't show me ANYTHING at all-i only found out when i was leaving it was because they thought he was my second.probably says more about the state of me than my skills lol.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

i think it came naturally to me because of all my nephews and nieces and mates kids that i looked after when i was younger, i always had someone elses kid hanging round my ankles, come to think of i still do :D

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I believe Cindy was only in for a day after both her deliveries. Just enough time to make sure each were safe to check out.

Brian

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

when i had mine i was in for 2 weeks:eek: for my first!
a week before and a week after and god was I bored!!!
for my second was in and out, in and out, then when i finally had him I was in for 5 days!!

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

My first one was born in Watford and they kept me there for ten days. I was so eager to take him home but rules were rules.

I was living in Malta when my daughter turned up and although the birth was normal they kept me there for almost three weeks. Dad was off on exercise and I wasn´t allowed to go home alone. My poor son was stuck with foster parents and never forgave his sister!!

Steeljack, you should have reminded folk of your little story of when your eldest was born!!

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I was in hospital (Liverpool Womens) for over a month when had my youngest son, he was born 14 weeks early weighing only 2lb by emergency section and we were both very ill so I suppose it was necessary. He was then transferred to Queens Park and had to stay there for a further 10 weeks, but thankfully he is a health 10 year old now.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

i was in for 4 days with my 1st baby due to me not getting the hang of breast feeding for my 2nd baby i had him just after 10am i was out by 6pm same day my 3rd baby i had at 7.30pm so had to stay in overnight because i was told that i had to stay in for 6 hrs and as it would have been 1.30am i had to stay and it was the worst nights sleep ive ever had and it wasnt because of my baby,if i had my way i would have got up shower dress and home 6 hours,it should be up to the mum when she leaves,but if i had my own room i would probably have stayed a month

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I Was In For 6 Days With My First One 23 Years Ago, But My Other 3 I Was Home Within Hours .
And The Last 3 Were The Best Because I Found It Much Easier To Bond In My Own Time And Way Than Having Some Midwife Breathing Down My Neck Telling Me To Put My Baby Down

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Yeah that made me laugh Cherokee - I remember having my first. After looking after 2 of my nieces and being very close at hand when they were babies I had to laugh with my first when - Auxhillary nurse walks in " hi mrs. L I am going to take your baby for a bath would you like to come" Me " damn right I'd like to come - scuse me I will bath my baby" AX " oh but it's your first - are you sure you know how to bath him" " yes I know how to bath him thankyou very much, now give me my baby and let me bath him". she was a right bloody know it all.....best of it was she was only about 3 years older than me, and YES NO children of her own :( I hope someone gave her as much KNOW IT ALL advice when she had her first - then again she actually looked like a dyke maybe not lmao

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I think its a bit different with your first Lolly, I stayed in 3 days when I had Ellie cause I wanted to establish breast feeding and I didn't feel confident to go home, fortunately Lettie is a senior midwife and my sister and she did the first bath/ nappy change and was always on the other end of the phone when I needed her which was very reassuring.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

There is absolutely no reason for anyone to stay in hospital after a normal birth. Most of the available research supports mothers going home with their babies after normal births. The care in the community in the UK is really good in comparison to the USA and other westernised countries so we therefore have the infrastructure to support early discharges. What we do not have is the infrastructure to keep everybody in hospital, and some people would stay for weeks (if you let them).
Funnily enough, the people who usually want to stay are those who have had several children, probably because they would get no rest at home.

It is worth remembering that it is not too long ago when most babies were born at home. The home confinement rate is increasing again. In cases of normality, I would fully support any mother wishing to deliver at home or be discharged early from hospital. Mothers are always given contact numbers for the hospital, the midwife and breastfeeding support before discharge. We do not throw people out unsupported.:D

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

posted by lettie

Funnily enough, the people who usually want to stay are those who have had several children, probably because they would get no rest at home.





I must agree here lettie because by the time id had my 4th child i got sent home almost immediately but what i would have given to have a couple of days peace ....lol!!

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

ok , a daft question from a bloke , is it true or just an owd wives tale that in the old days they used to cook up the after-birth and feed it to the new mother ? :confused: :confused:

thanks lettie for the response and congratulations on the degree ,mentioned in another thread :D

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

I think some people still cook up the after birth, there were a couple on the tv over Christmas that had done just that, personally I think its disgusting! Supposed to be very nutritious though.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

when mine was born because it was the early hours of the morning they gave the wife the choice but suggested that she stay the night.

i think that if there are no medical reasons to stay in (after sensible period of monitoring obviously)then the mother should have a choice as to whether she goes home or not if the mother and medical staff are both comfortable with it

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

with my first who is 15 i was in 7 days he was a normal delivery but because he was my first i had to stay in those 7 days.
my second 2 were 3 days stay in they were both c section and my new little girl who is 6 weeks i had a section with her and i was out the day after i was gobsmacked when they said i could go home.

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Blimey that its quite quick after a C section to return home, you must have quick healing & a good pain barrier:D congrats belatedly Takersbabe:D

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

my thoughts exactly after the midwife said lol i didnt complain though its always nicer to recuperate at home lol i was out shopping same week heh.
yeah i do heal very quick for some reason and am able to deal with pain easily,still rather quick though lol.

thankyou for your congrats :D

Re: mothers sent home 4 hours after giving birth
 

Catie was born at home, which was great - she arrived at 7 a.m. having kept us awake almost all night - so after everything had quietened down, I wandered downstairs and cooked myself a huge breakfast. Can't do that in hospital. Miles was born at St Thomas's in London and they kept me in for 7 interminable days. I loathed every minute, although the staff were very good. I just wanted to go home. If you're healthy and there are no problems, home is a great place to have a baby.