how long do you stay in hospital

[babylove21]

My last baby was 17 years ago, yes years!
Times have changed i know and now i am wondering just how long will i have to stay in hospital after the birth.
I'm not asking because i'm desperate to be home within 2 hours of giving birth or anything i'm just wondering from a practical point of view.
I have no reason to suspect i will not have a Normal delivery assuming my 36 weeks scan shows placenta has moved up out the way.
I have never breast fed and hope to this time and someone mentioned at antenatal they wont let me home unless feeding is established..... how long does it take to establish breast feeding ?

[moondog]

Oh best of luck this time Baby
It might help to put your query into Breastfeeding section too for more replies.

In an ideal world,the mWs in a hospital would know all about b/feeding but sadly they don't so even being with them might not help.

Secondly, asuming all has gone well,they will probably want (and maybe even hussle) you out in 24/48 hours.

This moght not be a bad thing as hospitals are not peaceful places. However,you do need to know about who can help you best.Mumsnet is a fab source of support and advice so have a look through b/feeding section and post as much as you want to. Having the phone numbers of all the supportlines helps too. [[http://howbreastfeedingworks.com/tag/tongue-tie/ They are all listed on this blog (on right of page) which is run by a lovely MNer. Have a read of the blog too.

Good luck!

[moondog]

try again

[sparkleymummy]

DS1 gave birth at 3.30am and home by midday. DS2 gave birth at 3am and home by 6am!! Since both were normal births and they both went straight onto the breast they barely checked me over and just seemed to want rid of me.

Have to say I was quite pleased to be out of there anyway. Its far better being at home than being in hospital.

[lilyloo]

ds1 induction lots of stitches 3 days, but glad of help est bf
dd natural birth overnight and then home
dd2 induced but quick birth with no pain relief / stitches hoem after couple hours

TBH i would stay until you feel comfortable with est bf (how long piece of string as far as how long it takes)
But i found being at home i had much more rest despite other two dc's being there than in busy hospital.

[hotCheeseBurns]

I was in for about 30 hours after the birth (with epidural). Slept for most of that (to catch up on the two nights of sleep missed due to labour) and then was desperate to leave but had to wait hours for them to do all the checks and stuff.

[TotalChaos]

I was in for 8 days as DS was jaundiced. Would have been in for about 3 days otherwise as had ventouse and some bladder complications.

[babylove21]

Thank you for your replies. sparklymummy an inspiration to us all or a very busy under staffed unti lol.
moondog thank you very much, yes its the breast feeding issue that concerns me most, i will take a look at the link.

hotcheese do you think your longer stay was because of the epidural? i seem to remember waiting for those checks last time.

totalchaos My first baby was jaundiced so i was in for about 10 days but she was a little early too at 36 weeks although no other probs.

I have an antenatal on Fri so will ask. No disrespect to todays youth but my MW at the local practice is a trainee so i wonder just how much advice she can really offer. Maybe that was a rough comment but a little how i feel. She is a lovely person but i don't feel i can chat to her properly.

[babylove21]

lilly i see you say induced ' but quick' does that mean that induced briths are not normally quick ?
My first was born at 36 weeks of her own accord and my second 2 days before EDD natural birth.
I am hoping i will have a similar experience again, i don't fancy having to play the waiting game.

[hotCheeseBurns]

Yes, my legs were jelly after the birth and I stayed in bed for ages! Ds was born at 7 a.m. and by the evening when I woke up and wanted to go home the midwife said no chance - I hadn't stood up, been to the toilet, washed or eaten. However, once I was up and about the next morning I still had to wait about 6 hours before they let me go. I was so bored! I'm sure the epidural made my stay longer but it was worth it!

[lilyloo]

well my first induction with ds was took twelve hours to start after being given gel and then another 15 hours of labour before he was born with forceps.
dd2 was quicker than my natural birth with dd1 6 hours from gel to having her.
Every induction story can be very different.
Hope it happens naturally for you again but despite me dreading the induction after my experience with ds when she got to 40 +14 it turned out good in the end.

[Mitchell81]

First baby Emergency c-section home after 5 days, 2nd baby planned c-section home 48 hours after birth, 3rd-hoping for the same. Hospitals aren't relaxing and by day 2 was doing everything for myself so no point in being in hospital.

[amidaiwish]

DD1 had her 6.56am day 1, left hospital 10am day 2

DD2 had her 3.56am - left at 10am the same day. (i would have left sooner but had to wait for the doctor).

[iwouldgoouttonight]

I had DS at 7.30pm and was home by 11pm (would have been earlier but midwife had to go and deliver another baby before she could discharge me!). She put DS to my breast almost immediately and he fed for about half an hour while I had some tea and toast so she took that to mean that breastfeeding was established. However once I got home I couldn't get him to latch on at all and had a nightmare feeding him! So I think in hospitals they just want to see the baby latch on and that's it, you can go home, but it would be good to get some breastfeeding support once you're out because they make it look so easy in the hospital and it sometimes takes a while to be able to do it on your own.

[MerlinsBeard]

was different with all of mine

with ds1 i stayed in until after lunch the following day (hes coming up 5)
with ds2 i had him in teh small hours and was home at lunch (hes coming up 3)
with ds3 i went in at 10, had him at 3 and was home by 7!! (hes 2 weeks-i asked to come home for proper rest)

[WowOoo]

I was allowed home after 2 days after c-sec with proviso that I did nothing but stay in bed with baby. BF was established. Wish I'd stayed that little bit longer really, bc we could get help in the early hours with feeding and screaming and me needing to rest.

[babylove21]

I suppose much of it depends on how quick you recover from birth and how well your baby is feeding then ?
It would be nice to be home so soon but im just worried that i wont be able to cope.
17 years ago the mw's were very supportive and helped as much as they could and i wasnt bf back then.

This might sound awful but my dp is a bit useless at domesticity and i'm worried if i come home still unable to do much i am going to starve to death lol.

[amidaiwish]

with DD1, they said i could go home that morning, but i said "no, i wanted to stay til i had bf established" (as primed and warned by NCT classes...!)

they agreed, but really felt "no need" - i beg to differ, i pressed that buzzer about 10 times for help, got a different mw each time, each time they recommended something different (much to my annoyance at the time) but you know, i think each bit of advice/suggestions was useful.

what i am trying to say is, stay if you want. You may have to insist, but they won't kick you out!

[flossish]

ds natural birth, born at 11pm, out about 4pm the next day as some problem establishing feeding (turned out he was jaundised).

dd induction, born at 11pm , out by 2pm, only delayed by anti d and DP dropping DS off at nursery! good luck.

[stanleysmother]

There are so many variables coming into play, but if the birth is straightforward they'll try to get you out ASAP. I stayed in overnight with DS1 (born 5am Sat, came home 11am Sun) just because I was overwhelmed by it all and didn't have the confidence to go straight home! I was extremely lucky as he latched on of his own accord and was feeding like a beast...just as well he knew what he was doing as I was clueless! With DS2 I went in at 6.30am, had him at 11.30am and went home at 2pm but again he'd started to feed well. Don't be pushed into anything.
As far as undomestic partners go, I would get cooking now! I made things like pasta sauces, lasagne, stew, cottage pie, that sort of thing and froze it. The other thing we lived off in the first couple of weeks was fresh filled pasta with ready made sauces and a nice big salad... 2 mins to prepare and any fool can do it!

[PABLOP]

Hey babylove21, there is a 20 year gap between my dd and ds. It's lovely. Because I know how fast time has gone I am appreciating every moment with my precious baby. All the knowledge came back although somethings have changed. Congratulations to you!!

[piratecat]

I stayed 3 days after mine, but was it was a difficult birth, and I had other medical probs. TBH, i wanted to stay longer, having al those meals brought to me!!

They do let you go pretty quick I hear.

[gladbag]

I had a very straightforward delivery, but like you, was a first time mum who wanted to get breastfeeding established. Unfortunately ds wasn't cooperating, and still hadn't latched on at the 24 hour after birth point.

I ended up staying in 4 and a half days - they certainly didn't try to make me leave, although I think that was mainly because the feeding really wasn't going well. I did manage to get him to latch at the end of day 2 (using the scorned nipple shields) but he was never very enthusiastic.

Looking back I wish I'd had the nerve to go home earlier, take to my bed with a naked ds and get proper breastfeeding support from LLL or NCT or a local breast feeding counsellor. As it was, most of the midwives were encouraging, but a fair few pushed for formula top-ups, and the ones that helped with the breastfeeding all gave me different advice (and over the time I was there I saw about eight different women). I found the whole experience very confusing and it was an immensely anxious time.

That all sounded rather pessimistic - sorry! What I mean to say is if you want to get breastfeeding established well, it's worth getting the support sorted out beforehand, and get yourself home - that's my advice.

Many congratulations and good luck!

[PABLOP]

I was induced, 14 hour labour then emergency c section, I stayed 3 nights, laughed when I read my notes at home, "is desperate to go home as soon as possible" I never said that

[babylove21]

Thanks everyone, im feeling much more comfortable about it all now.
And Pablop i thought i was the only one with such an age gap lol. I worry because i say this is my third and i think mw thinks ooo she will be ok, but im more frightened now than i ever was before.

Is it also influenced by how many mothers are in and due in? lol.

And yes i will look now for breastfeeding support groups so the numbers are to hand should i need them.

[amytheearwaxbanisher]

had ds 3pm on sunday and was let out tuesday morning though they told me i could stay another day if i wanted