Well - its now day 8 of my hospital stay since having our gorgeous little boy Morgan. All is clear with him now except for that fact that he has lost 11% of his original birthweight. He was 8lb 1oz when born and is now 7lb 3oz. As a result, we are not allowed home until his weight has now improved - he gets re weighed tomorrow. In the meantime, he has been placed on a feed plan or what some statistician believes is the right amount of food he should eat per day in order to put on a satisfactory amount of weight over a certain period of time. As a result, he now has to consume at least 75mls of milk every 3 hours. Not three hours after his last feed mind you - strictly every three hours. So, lets say I feed him at 7am, and it all takes around two hours and he finally goes back to sleep at 9am, I still have to wake him at 10am for his next round of feeding. Not only am I breast feeding, I have to express my milk 8-10 times per day to feed him, as well as top up with formula milk. Needless to say, after a) being led to believe we could come home yesterday b) having to stay in until at least Tuesday c) feeling fed up of being told how and when to feed my son d) having had only around 10 hours sleep in the past whole week - I am not ashamed to admit I went into full emotional meltdown yesterday to the point of almost walking us both put of there. Im still teetering on the very edge today - it wouldnt take much for tears to flow again - its either that or I start breaking faces instead. Come what may, we are both home on Tuesday even with the very low blow threats of if you take him out of here now he cant come back here, hell have to go on childrens ward where there are load of nasty viruses (yes that was a quote). In summary - as his mother - heres what I know:- 1) Babies eat when they are hungry, sleep when they are tired. Any indication of something wrong can be more readily seen when this is not being enforced into a strict regime. The feed plan is the biggest load of bollocks I have ever come across. 2) Babies need routine, even newborns, not to be constantly disturbed (usually when just managed to get him back to sleep) to be poked, prodded, cut, bled etc 3) A less stressed mum = a less stressed environment for baby. Home would provide this, as would sleep, which cannot be gotten on a very busy post natal ward. 4) Sorry Mr NHS, threats such as not being allowed to return where there are any issues (ever heard of Westfield and Bupa?) 5) Again, sorry Mr NHS, but occasionally get your head out of your arses (sorry textbooks and statistical bullshit) and listen to the mother, because on this occasion - she really does know best. Oh well - I suppose I better hop to it and feed my son although I do believe he has other plans.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:00:12 +0000