Breast Feeding in Hospital.

SusanC_2

ceebeeby wrote: »

I disagree entirely with NHS hospitals paying for visiting or resident parents meals unless in a one-off emergency (diabetic parent attending emergency etc.).

I can't quite get my head round anyway, why a healthy person thinks the NHS should feed them ...?

And to the OP, if you continue pursuing it with PALS, I have no doubt whatsoever that your DD will be fed, but not for the reasons you may be hoping for - it will be to keep you quiet and not to create mayhem in an already stretched system, where the number one priority is the children and not the parents.

This post is not intended to insult or upset anyone, but just a tiny reality check into what it is you're looking to change, and the cost of it etc.!

I think an ill premature baby who has just required a life-saving operation is pretty important. Yes the mother is healthy but she is the food supply for this infant. She is 100 miles from home (presumably in an area which is not well known to her), breastfeeding the child every two hours, has nobody near enough to bring her food, the father is presumably back at work, she has to somehow get enough sleep in between these two hourly feeds, there is no on-site canteen where she could purchase food so how is she supposed to get it. The whole point is that she is breatsfeeding which is in the best interestes of her sick daughter. It is not about the parent - it is about providing for the sick child. Given the prematurity and the medical issue, I imagine having breastmilk will make more of a difference to the baby's recovery and general health than with the average child. This alone should save the NHS money aside from saving on the cost of special formula since I very much doubt they would use the regular kind of formula which you buy in the shops.

And yes, this is a place where people have discussions/debates but do you really think this is the appropriate thread? The OP is the grandmother of this baby and has had this problem on top of the original premature-baby-needing-an-operation and has asked for help because of the desperate situation. How would you feel if this was your daughter and grandaughter? Do you really think it is appropriate to add your criticism to the unreasonable stress the hospital has added to an already difficult situation? Yes, there is a time and a place to debate this issues but this is not it. Please think about it.

LittleMissAspie

tarajayne wrote: »

Now please go away!

If you don't want general comments around your topic, don't start a thread on an open forum in the first place.

thatgirlsam

nickyhutch wrote: »

Sam, I don't mean to have a go - I read and agree with a lot of your posts, so really don't mean to, but if you want a job with perks, then don't work for the NHS! The public pay for the NHS, and why should they pay for our perks? If there was money to burn, I'd agree, but there just isn't, and it's not fair for patient care to suffer so that we can have cheap lunches.

i most definitley would not want patient care to suffer

what i object to is perfectly good food thrown in the bin day after day when the OP's daughter and mothers like her are going without ..

does not seem right to me

tattoed_bum

When i stayed in the royal gwent newport with my son ,he was 10 days old i was breast feeding ,i wasnt a patient anymore but staying in scbu with him no food was allowed near the ward so no food was offered .
To be perfectly honest i never expected them to either

SugarSpun

ceebeeby wrote: »

It is therefore difficult to understand why the occasional poster has deemed it unacceptable to have a debate on the issue as raised by the OP, immediately following posts that do not agree, and furthermore the odd rude gesture thrown in (yes, I count the mad face when directed towards me as a rude gesture).

Because the issue wasn't raised by the OP - what was raised was a plea for information in time-sensitive circumstances, and the debate was in danger of stopping the flow of information.

I'm all for debate, but not when it gets in the way of what's needed.

thatgirlsam wrote: »

i most definitley would not want patient care to suffer

what i object to is perfectly good food thrown in the bin day after day when the OP's daughter and mothers like her are going without ..

does not seem right to me

I agree with you. The amount of waste is shocking. When my grandmother was dying, she was sedated to unconsciousness for the last six days, taking no food and no water. But NHS policy was that a tray of food be delivered to her three times a day anyway - and so it was. The food on the plate was the generic stuff and not suitable for her restricted diet even before the last few days so would have gone uneaten anyway, and the nurses were quite adamant that whoever was sitting with her should eat the food as they weren't the patient and it shouldn't go to waste.

This was Whiston Hospital, OP, and although I wasn't a breastfeeding mother at the time the unofficial policy was to make things as easy as possible for those sitting with dying people, not force them to argue with bureaucrats over access to a kettle and a microwave.

andrealm

I think its terrible that your DD isn't being fed. If it's a cost issue then why can't they offer food for all parents staying with sick children but charge them for it?

I'm sure most people would happily pay a small amount for the convenience of having food available instead of having to worry about bringing food in and heating it up themselves, they have enough to worry about. It's all very well saying they can get other people to bring food in but what if they don't have any family nearby who can help them?

onlyroz

Well fairly soon after the birth of my daughter in Frimley Park I was given a sandwich - because dinner had been and gone and that was all they had. However when she was about two months old we found ourselves in a situation where I was on one ward with an infection and she was on the children's ward with a virus. I got three meals a day but my husband, who was staying on the children's ward with the baby, didn't get any meals. I think he was allowed to make himself cups of tea. I don't have any particular problem with this - he just went to the restaurant for his meals.

After a few days me and my daughter were both moved onto the maternity ward so that we could be together and I could breastfeed her.

tarajayne

onlyroz wrote: »

Well fairly soon after the birth of my daughter in Frimley Park I was given a sandwich - because dinner had been and gone and that was all they had. However when she was about two months old we found ourselves in a situation where I was on one ward with an infection and she was on the children's ward with a virus. I got three meals a day but my husband, who was staying on the children's ward with the baby, didn't get any meals. I think he was allowed to make himself cups of tea. I don't have any particular problem with this - he just went to the restaurant for his meals.

After a few days me and my daughter were both moved onto the maternity ward so that we could be together and I could breastfeed her.

Thank-you, the problem being there is no restaurant, the hospital closed it. No-one seems to get it, she would pay, she would go to a restaurant. There is a pub nearby, but she isn't comfortable going there on her own, and after dark it really isn't a good idea anyway as it is right down the road and across. The hospital shop is vey rarely open as it is run by volunteers and they have a shortage. So therefore there is no provision. And as for taking food in, one lady there on her own is from Glasgow as her husband is at home with their daughter, one of her twins has died and she stays with the other one 24/7 as despite being 7wks old he is only 1lb12oz and very poorly. What about her???

nickyhutch

tarajayne wrote: »

Thank-you, the problem being there is no restaurant, the hospital closed it. No-one seems to get it, she would pay, she would go to a restaurant. There is a pub nearby, but she isn't comfortable going there on her own, and after dark it really isn't a good idea anyway as it is right down the road and across. The hospital shop is vey rarely open as it is run by volunteers and they have a shortage. So therefore there is no provision. And as for taking food in, one lady there on her own is from Glasgow as her husband is at home with their daughter, one of her twins has died and she stays with the other one 24/7 as despite being 7wks old he is only 1lb12oz and very poorly. What about her???

Let the hospital provide the food, but let them charge for it.

tiamai_d

It's not really promoting healthy eating for lactating mothers by forcing her to eat microwave meals is it? Or pot noodles or crisps.

There is no restaurant.

A 200mile round trip is not possible within 2 hours, sorry, not legal, I'm sure it is possible somewhere.

A bus trip to a restaurant, eat and back is not possible either.

It's too soon to drive even if she did have a car there with her.

Friends and family won't be able to visit often if it's going to take an hour and a half to get there.

If baby is needing fed every 2 hours then there will be worries about her blood sugar levels dropping amongst other things so leaving baby to wait longer than that 2 hours so mum can leave the hospital and eat 3 times a day is not going to be very good.

But no, I agree, she should be going to the non existent restaurant like everyone else and not expect to actually eat real food for the duration of the babies stay. You shouldn't reply if you don't actually READ the post.

I'm sure even the option of paying for meals would be far better than receiving none at all.

And had the baby been born in that hospital, mum would be receiving meals for the first 10 days at least as she would still be an inpatient.

Crosshouse maternity feed mums who are staying in hospital (on ward or in parent accommodation). Crosshouse children's hospital provide parents with a card for the cafeteria to have discount meals. But there is a cafeteria which is the main difference.