Hospital Birthers: Were You Able to Bedshare with Your Newborn? - Page 2

[artemis80]

I voted "no trouble," but when we explicitly asked, the nurse said "Well, the baby _should_ sleep in the bassinet." But nobody ever stopped us. That said, we didn't really sleep much in the hospital. I don't think I ever fell deeply asleep with ds in the bed (or for the next six weeks, but that's a different story.)

[midnightmommy]

With my son six years ago I was told in clear terms that it was not allowed. I feel asleep on accident with him, and was woken up by a nurse asking if she could take him to the nursery since I was too sleepy to stay up with him, and he was only happy being held. Me being a first time mom caved.

With my baby I just had in May at a different hospital it was a different story. I was ready for them to tell me no, but was very surprised when the nurse actually tucked us in bed together. Then the next morning my new nurse was all smiles when she saw us curled up together sound asleep.

[gcgirl]

I bedshared with approval and encouragement from staff. The lactation consultant also showed me how to nurse side-lying.

[AllyRae]

DS1 was a hospital birth in 2003 in Massachusetts and I kept trying to bedshare and the nurses would keep coming into the room and try to take him away. They said if I put him in the bed one more time and fell asleep, they'd take him to the nursery. So, I plopped something in front of the door so I'd wake up if I heard them come in. :

DS2 passed away at birth and DD1 was adopted so no answer for those.

DD2 was born via c-section at 36 weeks and needed a lot of skin to skin contact. The night of her birth, my husband tried to drive home in a blizzard and then ended up in a hotel because the snow was so bad. So, I was alone in the hospital room with a baby post c-section. I kept her in the bed with me but stayed up all night because I was afraid the nurses would try to take her. That went on a couple more days until day 3 of the 5 day stay when one of the nurses saw her laying on my chest with every pillow in the bed propped up along the rail of the bed (so the baby couldn't roll/fall through the rail). The nurse laughed and said "you know, you can get some sleep. Keep her on your chest so you both get some rest. You're not a first time mom and you've done this before". And this was at a major teaching hospital/medical school. The next two nights in the hospital rocked because we both slept all night!

ETA: I kept the bed in a semi-reclined position and had the absolute bare minimum of pain meds...I was off narcotics within a couple days and was walking around less than 12 hours post-c-section so they weren't too worried about my reflexes. :

[Ks Mama]

DD had severe jaundice due to AB/O incompatibility, so had to be incubated for light therapy for much of our 6 day stay - though we did bedshare - in the hospital bed - with lots of pillows - until her jaundice was diagnosed. After that, we roomshared, and was in my arms as often as possible while nursing. It was a baby friendly designated hospital, so room/bedsharing was encouraged. No problems with holding her as much as we wanted (other than the obvious - the less time she was under the lights, the higher her bili levels went)

DS also had severe jaundice due to AB/O incompatibility, and was also preterm (36 weeks). We were prepared this time, and due to pretermness I insisted on keeping him skin to skin, and phototherapy was done with a biliblanket. Biliblanket is less effective than incubator light therapy, so we had to treat for 2 weeks at home, but hospital stay was only 3 days, instead of 6!
This hospital did NOT encourage bed sharing or rooming in, and the nurses were frequently asking me if I'd rather have him in the nursery, or in the basinette next to the bed ("aren't you TIRED of holding him?" WHAT? ). The thing is... when you have had a C-section, getting the baby OUT of the basinette requires another person, at least at first, so there was no way I was letting DS go. Basically, we stayed connected from birth (oh yes, I insisted on him being placed on my chest immediately post-C as well ... they LOVED us at that hospital. HA!). There were a couple awesome nurses though, who really GOT it.

So, anyway, I voted the second option. Cause I did it anyway.

[bjerme]

I had csections, was was able to sleep with the babies. All of the nurses thought it was great.

[Sheryl1678]

The birth experience itself was horrific but oddly enough they were very breastfeeding and bedsharing friendly. In fact, I attribute my breastfeeding success to the lactation consultant who sat with me most of the night and made sure my daughter's latch was right. My daughter never went to the nursery and they had no problem with it.

[Kidzaplenty]

I was only in the hospital about 12 hours pp, but I refused to let him go into a "salad crisper" as my DH renamed their little plastic tubs they called baby beds. The nurses were not happy and kept wanting me to put him in one, but did not push TOO hard. But then again, we were a bunch of trouble for them already, so they just really wanted us gone!

[LemonPie]

I did with all three of mine with no problems.

With my first I fell asleep with baby in bed next to me and woke to a nurse tucking a pillow in between him and the metal rail on the bed so he wouldn't fall out.

With my second, postpartum was full and I was transferred to pediatrics, which actually was awesome. They basically left us alone except to take vitals a few times. I co-slept despite signs posted all over the place warning against it. Nobody said a word.

Number 3 was an emergency c-section under general anesthesia (so I didn't get the spinal duramorph which meant a lot of post-op pain). I did eventually co-sleep a little with her after the first 24 hrs or so. DH and my mom both took turns staying with me in the hospital overnight to help, so most of the time if she wasn't with me, she was in bed with DH or Grandma. Grandma, by the way, is a postpartum nurse on that very floor. DD got a little warm being all bundled up and under the covers with her and had a high-temp reading, but since my mom was able to vouch for why we didn't have go through the whole fever protocol

[lucifugous]

Where I delivered, they had the little newborn-bed-on-a-cart in the room and no nursery for healthy babies. Now that I really think about it, I think one person might have mentioned something about the baby being in the bed. Overall I didn't get the impression of any negativity about cosleeping. I guess I never had any doubt that's what we were going to do, though. I did put her in the little cart bed for a little while... didn't help me rest any better :P.
I forget when or what I was reading, but I was under the impression that hospitals were phasing out nurseries. That's a step in the right direction!

[Litcrit]

It was encouraged.

[cileag]

We just got an email reminder that it is not allowed where I work. A baby did just fall on the floor I guess. My standard reply is to gently tell them that officially it's against hospital policy, but that they are adults and can make decisions themselves.

[AutumnAir]

It was decidedly frowned upon in the hospital that we transferred too, but I had lost everything else I'd wanted from that birth and I was adamant I was not going to give up on breastfeeding and bonding with my baby, so I bed-shared despite all the nastiness. It was also a good way to prevent them from stealing DD while I was asleep - they seemed totally intent on taking her away to the nursery every time my back was turned, and then I wouldn't get her back for hours It was a very long 4 days.

But I'm glad we bed-shared in the hospital; it helped me to feel that I was doing *something* right, and we're still bed-sharing at nearly 2 yo!

[prancie]

i had an emergency transfer from a homebirth in a state where midwifery is illegal. So I was an oddity already but I hardly ever put him down and one night when a nurse came in really late she looked at ds and said to me, "I'd never let him go either" I thought it was a really sweet thing to say. It also told me I was the talk of the nursing station.

I also co-slept with ds at the area children's hospital when he was 2 months old and had had a fall (he was fine). Apparently it's very common and the nurses didn't think anything of it. I think a lot more people bedshare than we are led to believe by the media.

[MissRubyandKen]

I was made to sign a paper stating that if I slept with the baby in the bed they would take the baby out. I did hold the baby almost the entire time in the bed and got next to no sleep at all the entire time I was in the hospital. What little bit of sleep I did get was when dp was holding the baby. It was wretched.

[pumpkin]

I am unable to sleep in the hospital so I did not sleep for 2 days following my csec. I did however hold DD in bed with me most of the time.

[onemoremom]

At my sons birth (6 years ago in a southern NH hospital) room sharing was assumed, bed sharing was never commented on, and all the nurses who worked with new moms had at least some training in lactation. They helped me get into a side-lying position so I could rest more while he ate. In the paperwork in the room, one sheet was instructions on how to bedshare safely while in the hospital (rails up, etc..). Another was basic instructions on how to use a sling (and informed us that at least one brand was available in the gift shop). There was also a hotline to call, available 24/7, for help and advice with nursing once we got home.


I was still glad to get home where I could relax more in my own space, but overall I was pleased that a lot of these things that some moms have to fight for, or simply aren't 'allowed' in some hospitals, were treated as normal and expected.

[kitkat5505]

With my first 2 I didn't even think to co-sleep in the hospital, but I wish for my first I had thought to do it, I couldn't get out of bed the first night and my DH is a very heavy sleeper so it was hard to get him to wake up to bring me the baby when he cried.

Anyway, my last one was born at the only "baby friendly" certified hospital in the state and they were awesome. Rooming in was expected and they didn't so much as blink an eye when I co-slept with him. It was so much easier that way.

[Alyantavid]

I did with both and never heard a word.

[Comtessa]

Um, I'm just impressed that any of you manage to sleep in the hospital at all. I'm firmly convinced that our hospital's policy was slow torture through sleep deprivation. The one time we did manage to fall asleep for an hour or so w/ DD in the bassinet (DH and I were squeezed together on the hospital bed and there wasn't much room for baby too), they snuck into our room and took her away without our permission and against our explicit written instructions. I woke up in time to see the door closing behind them, FLEW out of bed and down the hall to the nursery, threw open the door and demanded that they return my child. (ETA: Running down the hall in the middle of the night after waking out of a sound sleep a few hours after a three-day labor and very difficult birth? Rather a feat of strength. Talk about mama-bear adrenaline.) After that, I refused to put her down again until we were safely home.