Midwife nursing baby?

[chumbler]

midwife nursing baby at hospital so mother can get some rest. is this normal??

[honeysucklejasmine]

Nursing? Or feeding with formular?

[NurNochKurzDieWeltRetten]

What do you mean by nursing? In the context of a new born it usually means breast feeding, but presumably you just mean cuddling? It sounds perfectly normal if the ward/ unit isn't busy and the mother has agreed.

[confusedandemployed]

My MW syringed colostrom off me and positively ordered me to sleep while she fed DD...I am hoping you don't mean BFing baby! That'd be above and beyond the call of duty I reckon...

[BitandBot]

I was so ill after one of mine ( cs/ lost a lot of blood/ pain), that when the midwife offered to take him for the night I sobbed with gratitude. Although I planned to BF I was happy for her to give FF for a night. I'd have been rather shocked if she'd BF him though!

[maybetomorrow22]

DS2 was neo natal for a week, I expressed and they fed him then would come wake me up to do the other night feed. They would also spend hours with me making sure he was latched on etc. They were angels.

Locally i have known them to do it for other non neo natal babies

[BikeRunSki]

I struggled with bf for a week, despite superb support from the hospital midwives, NCT and LLL infant feeding volunteers who visited regularly. After 7 days dS had lost 26% of his birth weight, and the paediatrician wanted to move him to SCBU. The mw suggested he might take a bottle, and also suggested that he did it, as she was concern for my state of mind if he rejected that too. So she gave him his first bottle. It seemed normal in my hospital for mw to help feed ff babies if they had time.

[chumbler]

well baby was crying all night and after a traumatic birth etc the Midwife asked if I wanted her to take baby for a few hours. I agreed. when baby came back Midwife said "I nursed her then she slept" - what did she mean??? I should have asked but I was so tired / grateful for sleep

[Cynara]

I think she probably meant that she cuddled/rocked her, and possibly gave her a bottle. I would have thought she'd have asked if it was ok to FF her if you're planning to bf, but if you're FFing it would seem reasonable to go ahead and give her a bottle without waking you to ask.

[chumbler]

yeah that's why I'm not sure because I bf and was never asked about ff - do you think she may have given her ff then? isn't that really wrong of her to do that???

[SurlyCue]

Where i am from to "nurse" a baby means to hold/cuddle/rock them. I would guess this is all the midwife did. There is no way they could give formula without your permission and also, to nurse doesnt mean bottle feed, only breast feed, which she definitely wont have done

[StonedGalah]

Yes l think she gave her formula but no, l don't think it's wrong. I bf dd and an angel nurse took dd the first night and gave her a feed when l was exhausted.

[Cynara]

How long ago was this, could you ask them? I'm only going off my own experiences, both as a mum and a HCP, but yes, they should have asked if they wanted to FF her.

When I was on the post natal ward I remember being offered a bottle of formula for my baby so I could sleep. They knew I was bfing, so made a point of asking.

Can you look at your notes? It should be recorded in there.

The use of the word "nursed" doesn't automatically mean she did give a bottle of formula, it's a bit ambiguous isn't it?

[chumbler]

only 5 months ago. hmm I did see it in the notes, it just said baby taken with permission. I guess she meant rocked? I am grateful for the sleep which I desperately needed but not sure if I'd have agreed to ff but it doesn't sound like she had any?

[Cynara]

Doesn't sound like it, they'd have recorded it. If I were you, I'd try to close the door on this now. I had a very difficult, traumatic birth after a very straightforward pregnancy, so wad completely unprepared for it.

Afterwards it was very hard for me to process what had happened, and I found myself fixation on details and getting very upset about them.

I might be speaking completely out of turn, apologies if I am, but if your baby is well and happy now, and you've recovered as well as you're able to for 5 months post birth, Try not to get hung up on details. In this case

[Cynara]

Damned phone! Sorry! In this case I honestly think you have nothing to worry about. Sounds like she just cuddled her to sleep.

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

I work on a baby unit and if I 'nursed' your baby while you slept I would mean I cuddled him or her and settled them to sleep. I wouldn't use the term to mean I'd fed them, nor would anyone else on our ward or the postnatal ward next door. I don't think there is anything to worry about.

[chumbler]

thanks all and thanks cynara, too much time dwelling on the details definitely

[Cynara]

It's natural, I think you need to think it all through to move on from it. I found I had to really force myself to put it behind me eventually though, because I was going over and over the same stuff and getting upset every time. It gets easier. Congratulations on your lovely baby.

[NickyEds]

I think it depends how long "a few hours" was. The mw took ds from me so I could get some sleep but brought him back after an hour to be fed as i was bf. I'm not sure they'd let you sleep for any more than 2 hours without the baby being fed so they might have given f. I would have thought they'd check with you though. I'd try and move on after 5 months-congratulations.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Id be really suprised if the midwife fed formula to a baby without getting explicit permission.

[NurNochKurzDieWeltRetten]

Where are live they take the newborns to the nurse's station from 11pm til 5am each night unless you ask to keep them with you (they ask shall I take him/her? They don't just remove them, but it's default though you keep them the rest of the time). We're abroad. They bring them back to feed during that time, but for a baby above 3.5 kg with no issues they don't wake them to bring them back - some babies are sleepy the first night and will go 4 hours plus even if they don't do so again til they're 3 so not having a baby returned 2 hourly doesn't mean they were given formula.

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

Ended up in hospital when DS was 5 days old as he was jaundiced and had lost lots of weight. The first night he was in room with me under lights, but second and third nights the MW took him away about 11pm so that I could get some sleep. They had expressed milk for cup feeding if he needed it.

Btw when my mum refers to 'nursing' a baby, she means rocking/cwtching, not feeding, so it's not clear.

[LostMySocks]

My MIL talks about nursing DS. she means cuddling him or alternatively rocking him off to sleep and then holding him. Definitely no feeding involved.

[Imeg]

My mother-in-law says 'nurse' to mean cuddle/hold/rock - I found it a bit disconcerting at first but I've got used to it. She was always saying 'shall I nurse him for you?'