To ask why breatfeeding mother get free hospital food

[McHappyPants2012]

In work last week and was working on the children ward. Formula feed babies the mothers had to pay £1.50 for a meal yet breastfeeding mother was told ther is no charge.

Formula on children ward are only provided in an emergency so I don't think it's down to cost

The op I was on wondering why, and I has been answered and I can see the reasoning behind it.

It has been very sad reading parents who have children with long term Heath problems and going without food, I just hope something is done ASAP to support parents while in hospital with sick children.

I very much agree with BackToB4Beatrice's last post.

I am actually quite shocked at the lack of provision for parents.

I work with unwell adults & we usually have a couple of very poorly patients, those whose family stay a lot (for whatever reason) we always offer hot drinks & usually find a sandwich/biscuits on the sly. Sometimes there isn't much we can do, but offering a cup of tea & a biscuit shows that we care.

We are always short staffed but usually find a student to sit with a patient while we encourage relatives to go to the Canteen for half an hour.

Sometimes it's the small things that make all the difference.

Such a shame you have to do some of those "little things that make all the difference" "on the sly" though toobreathless - there's something wrong there and I hope managers and policy makers are reading and taking note

What ever ward I work on I offer to go to the shop for patient or visitors who can't get there sometimes a paper and a bottle of squash is all they want ( they pay) and I get a few metros off the bus to give to patients.

This thread is amazing, and has been very therepeutic and interesting to read. I've been a breast feeding mother staying in with both my children, for a week each. DS when he was nine months with bronchialitis and dd when she was 7 days with viral meningitis and a uti. Both recovered well, and although I was worried, they weren't desperately ill and recurred good medical care. I'm of course thankful for the medical care, the oxygen and the anti biotics. But I'm still upset by the way I was treated as a parent staying with my child.

I felt like an inconvenience, and that it would be simpler if I wasn't there for the staff. The mantra of " we look after the patients,not the parents" continually brought up. But not really relevant when you're dealing with a seven day old newborn. I got breakfast because I was bf (two pieces of white toast) but all other food was brought to me by dh. We luckily had a rota of caring friends who baby sat ds so dh could bring me food, otherwise I wouldn't have eaten beyond toast. Which is not ideal when your seven days past a major post partum haemorrhage and anaemic.

But food provision wasn't my main upset, it
Was more the lack of rest, respect, compassion and privacy. For instance being told I wasn't allowed a bed during the day ( despite the fact I was feeding dd all night, and trying to sleep when I could and despite the fact that I was seven days post birth and not wanting to sit down because of nether region pain). For instance, when I asked the doctor for a bed and the chance to rest, being told if I thought i needed medical treatment for my pph then I was free to go.

A change in mindset would help. Some privacy to dress, breast feed, sleep rather than the blanket policy that you're not allowed to pull your curtains round your bed ( because the nurses need to see the patients at all times. Even when they are with their mothers ). Some common sense and respect for parents trying to keep to their children's routines , rather than doing the hoovering at 7pm, emptying bins at midnight ( involving lights on and chatter.) Some empathy, ie responding to oxygen alarms etc rather than leaving them to alarm for 10 mins, waking and scaring mother and child constantly.

Och I dunno.

I think this is normal in all hospitals tbh

I 've thought about complaining, but never have, mainly due to the fact that whenever I've told anyone who hasn't been in hospital with a sick child of my concerns, I get met by a blanket uncomfortable "you shouldn't complain about children's hospitals, they are saints" kind of response. I just don't think
It would take much money or resources to make a difference. It's more a culture change that is needed.

Dependant on the set up on the ward I can fully understand why they didn't want a bed around. Our kids ward ask for parent beds to be away by 9am because they are an inconvenience and reduce the amount of space for the staff too work in. It's not ideal but it's understandable

Yes that's what I was told. Despite the fact that there were only 3 children on a ward of 6. Desite the fact i repeatedly told them I didn't need the cot , just a bed As I was cosleeping, And that word " inconvenience", is exactly what I felt to them. At 2am when I'd just managed to get us both to sleep and a nurse would come in, lift her out of my bed to put her in the cot without a word to me, and then leave her there to cry

Our hospital atleast has a " parent's room" with kitchen, sofa and shower. They offered to give me the key to that to sleep
During the day. But it's in a separate building, 20 mins away. And I had a seven day old baby, feeding every hour , I'm hardly going to leave her 20 mins away for a nap. Especially as she had a uti, and needed
Keeping hydrated .

But if they are feeding the patient surely they are entitled? My sister had a similar experience years ago, her baby was seriously ill and the SE London hospital wouldn't give her food and she didn't want to leave him. In the end she had to run down to the Burger King in the foyer.
I am the last person to be BF militant but it seems reasonable to me.

I am in the US but yes that is routine procedure here- you get fed as you are breastfeeding your child- makes sense to me as if you are not fed the quality of your milk is compromised and they would be providing a meal for the child anyway- love the hospital food here- you get to choose like on a menu, it really is an enjoyable experience.

I had an op about 10 years ago in Qatar. Not only were the family welcome on the ward, the Arabic ladies had relatives in every evening, some of them even brought a little stove and cooked! Not always so restful but very cosy, they used to feed me and my husband and all kiss me goodnight. A different culture but nonetheless was nice.