Breast Feeding in Hospital.

diddyangel

My eldest has spent quite a few nights in hospital over the years - she has cystic firbrosis.

Our local hospital is really good they feed parents of all children on the ward, breastfeeding or not. You order your meals for the day in the morning but you can only pick from what the menu for the kids is. You are supposed to pay a £1 token payment for this but no one has ever asked me to pay and when I tried to find out how/who to pay I was told not to worry. I prefer not to eat the food though as to be honest it is worse than poor, but if I was stuck there with no option obviously I would. We get to pick a main meal from a choice of three and also have the option of a sandwich or salad. The sandwiches are the only thing thats nice really these are the pre packaged kind, oh and the yoghurts as these are muller lights!! The toast in the moring is nice too actually!! They have also fed my youngest with no problems when I have no option but to have her there with us.

We also have a parents room where we have a fridge, kettle, toaster and microwave. When we are in we tend to take a supply of stuff with us so we don't have to eat th hospital food but this isn't always possible and I know a lot of parents struggle and just eat the hospital food even though its not the most appealing.

I'm not sure if it is different where your daughter is, as I'd assume the baby is in special care rather than the kids ward but they really should be doing something for her. The last things she needs right now is to be worrying about this. I hope everything goes ok for them and they get home soon.

kezlou

James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough provided food for me when i was breastfeeding my youngest and he was in the neonatal ward (special care baby unit). They also provided food for me ( i was still BF)when i left the hospital on the 3rd day and left DS2 in the neonatal ward. After all i had to look after DS1 while OH worked, i offered to pay for food but they told me not to and provided everything for me.

HTH

Hope everything goes well for your DD and baby x

pookienoodle

UHW Cardiff provided food for me when my son was on the childrens ward when he was a couple of days old.
They were quite insistant that I ate on a regular basis.
The consultant led maternity ward was another matter though,I frequently missed meals as they "forgot " me as I was in a side room.
this was nearly 4 years ago so hopefully things have improved.

Nicki

Royal London Hospital in London fed me when I was not a patient but staying in to breastfeed my 4 week old who was an inpatient for a week. Their policy was to feed breastfeeding mums three meals plus toast in between if required, and had a kitchen with free tea and coffee and space to store food. Formula feeding mums and dads weren't fed.

Tired_Mom

Hiya

Three years ago my dd was admitted to hospital at 11.5 months old following a febrile convulsion brought on by undiagnosed tonsillitus. She was breastfed at the time but obviously on solids as well. I was given food as the nursing staff said I was her food supply, food in food out. Obviously whilst she was so poorly she wouldn't eat anything and so her demand for milk increased.

There was also a parents room with tea, coffee and mini packets of breakfast cereals and a contribution box. A fridge was also available for you to put your own supplies in.

This was Wythenshawe Hospital.

HTH

xmaslolly76

Hi chick no experience of this myself but asked a freind who's child was in whilst she breastfed if she stayed in with him they fed her but if she wasnt staying they didnt the hospital was the winchester :-)

Counting_Pennies_2

Sadly, this is hospitals all over.

Unfortunately the NHS is so stretched, that it comes to this penny pinching, and an if for one has to be for all approach.

Personally I wouldn't waste your time fighting it right now, the last thing the nurses want is an extra fight on their hands and you could make their attitudes worse for the care of the little one. Fighting hospitals is very beaurocratic, and can turn nasty just when you need them.

If you have time in the future, do fight then. For now you want to be as supportive as you can for the little one, and provide the food for your DD as best you can yourselves.

Personally when I was in hospital the food wasn't up to much, and having little bags of home made food would have made all the difference.

nickyhutch

I'm afraid I don't understand this. The NHS should be paying for meals for people who aren't patients, who aren't ill, just because they are staying at the hospital to feed their babies? The NHS is stretched to the absolute limit. Go to the canteen, or get a friend or relative to bring you food in. You'd be paying for it if you were home.

I'm sorry, I know that sounds harsh, but really, the little money available should be used to care for ill people.

Tired_Mom

nickyhutch wrote: »

I'm afraid I don't understand this. The NHS should be paying for meals for people who aren't patients, who aren't ill, just because they are staying at the hospital to feed their babies? The NHS is stretched to the absolute limit. Go to the canteen, or get a friend or relative to bring you food in. You'd be paying for it if you were home.

I'm sorry, I know that sounds harsh, but really, the little money available should be used to care for ill people.

Feeding BF mothers IS caring for ill people by giving the baby the best source of nutrition for them as well as a source of comfort.

I spent from 3.00 until 7.00 in A&E and a side ward and when my daughter was finally admitted it was then too late to go to the canteen. The only things I could get too eat were high sugar junk food from a vending machine, what good is that. My husband had to go home to get our DS to bed and the nursing staff very kindly found me some food. I hadn't eaten anything since lunchtime and it would be morning before any possible other food and in that time I had to feed my daughter numerous times.

My husband was unable to get in until after 9.00 as he needed to sort our son out. I could not go waltzing off to the canteen. As nice as it would have been to have sometime to myself this was not possible. My daughter was 11 months old, poorly, frightened having an allergic reaction to the medication.

For 3 nights I got no sleep in the hospital and my husband was unable to swop places as my daughter was breastfed. The least hospitals can do is provide nutritious food for bf mothers as the bottom line is it is the babies food source.

It isn't easy breast feeding in circumstances like this as it means you are the only one who can stay with the baby and can't take it in turns etc.

Nitha

Nottingham QMC offer food to breastfeeding mums