To have wanted more than toast?

[Womenareliketeabags]

First time posting in AIBU so please be kind and I'm prepared to accept I am.

A few weeks ago I had a planned home birth, birth went well until the placenta was delivered at which point I had a large haemorrhage and was rushed to the nearest labour ward in an ambulance. By the time I had been sorted and I got my coffee and toast it was 01.30am and I hadn't eaten since lunch at 12.30pmish so I was very very hungry! Coffee and toast was lovely. However it did not ease my hunger, the kind midwife offered to see if they had a spare sandwich lying around, there wasn't so she made me some more toast. As I had been rushed in I didn't have my purse and my hospital bag only had very basic stuff, was middle of the night and DH had left at this point so I had no way of getting food from else where.

AIBU to think that labour wards should be able to access food for women at all hours of the day and night?

It's not a race to the bottom! All these 'I coped giving birth to triplets on rainwater and a single polo'.
Good nutrition is a basic medical fact, women shouldn't be 'managing' on the minimum, they should be given a balanced, nutritious meal to aid healing and recovery.
Women should start supporting and standing up for one another, not saying I had it bad so you should too

I was sooooo hungry after giving birth. I think I had about 6 or 8 pieces of toast and 2 (maybe 3?) Cups of tea in quick succession!
I was fortunate that the ward staff were lovely and there was enough of them at that point in time that they could keep the toast coming until I was full, but a proper meal - or even something simple like a jacket potato and beans would've been so much better!

Well put Elisheva
It's not a race to the bottom!

I managed with very poor post natal care, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Food should be available for for patients, women in labour may not have eaten for a considerable time and are expected to look after a newborn.

Staff working 24/7/365 should have access to good food services.

It's not a race to the bottom!

Exactly! If the NHS hospital where I'm going to have my baby can provide 24/7 catering to wards and a 24/7 canteen available to staff/visitors, why can't more hospitals do this? The maternity ward has individual en suite rooms (which obviously isn't a possibility in all hospitals without a huge rebuilding programme but that's another issue) and there is a menu in the room, you can literally choose off a menu of meals and snacks and it'll be sent up to the ward for you any time of the day or night. And the patient TV is free too.

Why should we be expected to put up with shitty care purely because we've 'only' had a baby!? When DB had his appendix out he had a morphine pump for the first 24hrs. When I had 9lb+ DC1 I had umpteen stitches from fanny to bumhole and was given a single ibuprofen (and even then had to go and ask for it).

When I had DC2 by EMCS the MW came and disconnected me from the drip and catheter at 6am. The surgeon had said I needed someone with me when I stood up for the first time after (due to very low BP). MW got me sitting on the side of the bed but not standing up then told me "breakfast is in the day room, end of the corridor, turn left then in the second last door on the right..." and off she fucked. I couldn't stand up because I was too dizzy and I felt like my insides were going to fall out of my incision. When shift changeover came at 8am my next MW, who was lovely, found me still sitting there, face literally two inches from the curtain because the other MW hadn't thought to open it. She helped me up, got me in a chair, got me some toast and a drink, helped me into the shower and waited right outside the door in case the hot water made me feel dizzy and kept an eye on me until DH showed up with a McDonald's breakfast and churros

Feeding patients should be a basic as it forms part of their care. On no other ward would patients be expected to bring in their own food or told they're being unreasonable for expecting to be fed.

Part of why I'm going to a different hospital to where I delivered my other three DC is for the better facilities and the individual rooms.

The best catering I had postnatally was after my hb - recommend!

I lie. The best was the liver and onions I had in hospital after DC1. Incredible.

I imagine cold McDonalds wouldn't be the most devious of meals but I don't understand why it should be deemed inedible. It's the same food, just cold.

To be honest I am a bit surprised that all new mums get is toast but it sounds as though this is the norm. But OP can't have been ravenous of she'd have eaten the McDonalds.

It might not be cost efficient to have a hospital canteen open all night, I get that, but a maternity ward could at least keep a stash of decent snacks e.g. cereal bars, bananas/other fruit, yoghurts etc that would be reasonably nutritious, filling and easy to eat for women who have just given birth.

I think I'd have thrown up any more than the cheese sandwich and cup of tea I got after my EMCS. I hadn't eaten for about 30 hours before then but I was shaky and weak feeling.. Something small and bland was best. I had a curry later!

The tea and jam on toast I was given at 3am after the birth of DC1 was the best meal I've ever had! It was exactly what I needed and toast had never before nor has ever since tasted so good .

I'd eaten a very small lunch (in between contractions at home) the day before. I gave birth in a private hospital in the Middle East.

I don't remember the food after DC2 (same hospital). But I was on an astonishing amount of drugs second time

I could only dream of toast and coffee! I was given 2 cream crackers and a miniature piece of rubber cheese because at 6pm it was too late to get me anything else. I had missed the food ordering for the next day and I was never given a chit to fill in because they 'only deliver those with the previous meal'. I could access a continental breakfast of cereal between 6 and 7:30 am and that was it. How anyone ever got fed is a mystery to me! I had nobody to bring me food for my 4 day stay as mother dearest had buggered off as soon as the baby was born and my husband was trying to get home from a war zone. I wasn't allowed to leave my baby to go to the canteen (obviously) and the post natal ward staff wouldn't keep an eye on her for 10 minutes either. It was a hideous experience. The lack of food completely messed up breastfeeding and I came out of hospital half a stone lighter than I was before I was pregnant and wearing size 8 jeans. Every cloud and all that!

I have been unfortunate enough to find myself on various medical and surgical wards (and birthing/post natal) and the only ward to turn on a toaster outside of kitchen operating hours was the labour ward.
Even post surgical procedures (and cleared to eat) I've only ever been handed a tiny bread roll and jam or a rich tea from the tea trolley once the general meal hours had ended.

With rates of admittance to labour wards differing daily it must be hard for them to have more than just bread and butter knocking around 24/7.

Yes lean food supplies are conducive to rest, recuperation and breast feeding but I struggle to see how they can provide all wards with extra food (which could go to waste).

Most hospital bag lists I read said to pack about a tenner in change (for parking and vending machines) and some breakfast bars to see you through.

Congratulations on your new arrival.

aren't*

I too didn't get to eat properly for several days after caesarian. I was quite poorly, with migraines (never had them before), and was shaky and u able to walk without a bit of support (turned out to be severe anaemia). The medical staff said I was to eat in bed, but the meal staff said everyone was to come to meal room, no one supervised them, so those of us who couldn't get there didn't get food. We told nurses, they said we should have been more pushy. DH made me toast when visiting, and brought snacks, but only when a diff sister came on did we get fed proper meals (she supervised mealtime, and made staff provide food to everyone).
Someone said this would only happen on maternity ward, but sadly this isn't the case. When my DM was ill in hospital she was prescribed liquid milkshake type meals to build her up. They stopped giving regular meals, but no one provided the milkshakes, despite her asking. When I visited one evening, and she'd had nothing all day, I asked, and they said 'a bit later on', tho they agreed she hadn't had food all day - seemed not to grasp that this was NOT ok. I lost it a little, and insisted she got food, right away (several cartons turned up within minutes).

So when I hear that someone unable to say that they're hungry has somehow starved on a hospital ward, and there's an investigation, I'm not surprised - even people who can ask can be left very hungryn if they don't have someone pushy coming in to back them up :-(.
I think it's maybe because people are v busy, and worry only about their specific duties to get them done, but that doesn't excuse it - the humanity is sometimes getting lost.
Sorry for the long rant - I just feel the particular event in this thread is the tip of a big ice berg...

The post-birth toast was probably the best meal I've ever eaten!

I think so long as the NHS is providing something, like toast, plus meals at mealtimes, then that should be adequate. Beyond that it's personal responsibility, pack snacks, send DP off to buy a sandwich etc. I'm a type 1 diabetic and don't expect any more than that, my hospital bag was positively bursting with a variety of snacks!
One area that could've been improved for me was mealtimes while DS was in NICU, as I'd be with him I'd often meal the trolley. After a few meals I dissed that I could ask them to leave me a 'packed lunch' which I had when I returned which was fine. A bit more guidance around this would have helped. DP always stepped in with a meal run though so I was fine.

I'm taking note as 14w preg

Make sure I have snacks in hospital bag and money and make sure take bag

Tho not having a home birth

Hospitals can't have a canteen open all night but sounds if the maternity ward should have an area filled with snacks then people donate to - esp as if bf the mum needs to make sure she eats

Obv being rushed in as an emergency you and dh didn't think about your pre packed bag

Can I nominate the Rosie in Cambridge for the best post-natal tea and toast? 21 years later I can still taste the glorious buttery toast and jam being fed to me by dd1 while dp and I cuddled and gazed at our new little wonder

Perhaps Hunt should look at the availability of proper food at weekends before pushing for a 7/7 routine NHS. Sounds like the system isn't coping with the basics.

It's just ridiculous that a midwife can leave a woman post cs sitting helpless on the edge of her bed and not even care if she can get up to walk down the corridor to find food. Is it really too much to ask for a patient who had had major abdominal surgery to have food brought to them the day after?

Our local hospital has microwavable meals (really nice ones with a decent portion and veg) and a good selection. Mums take their pick from ten options and follow the heating instructions and then eat. We feel it is our responsibility as it is part of the Mum's recovery from birth.

When I was in recovery after my EMCS a menu was bought round and I chose a shepherd's pie. When it was delivered to me in HDU, the MW snatched it off my table saying that it was too rich and I had to have toast in case I was sick. DH ate it instead. Neither of us had eaten since leaving for the hospital 20 hours earlier. I know there was a valid reason for the toast, but by God I was hungry!

I had difficulties with the breakfast room arrangements because of SPD. I simply hadn't been able to walk that far for weeks let alone after reciving stiches underneath and across my abdomen and other complications. I nearly missed the breakfast the first day on the main ward because no one had explained in my rushed early hours transfer to free up staff, that breakfast was to be collected. When I explained that I was incapable of walking that far anyway I had some food delivered with huffing and puffing.

Second time round, I had a false labour which they took seriously due to it being a VBAC. Although the contractions were dying down, I wasn't allowed lunch because of the hypothetical risk of a CS. That evening on main ward, it was clear that I wasn't in labour as the contractions had gone and I ended up having to ask for some tea. The cheese sandwich that was delivered was pretty inedible so I ended up leaving the bread and just having the cheese.

At least when I was in after the second birth, I was well stocked on snacks knowing that hospital portions are woefully inadequate to meet the needs of exhausted bodies recovering from surgical births and establishing milk supply. The cooked food was fine for taste, but simply insufficient in quantity. I also found that 5pm sandwiches were completely insufficient for lasting 15 hours until breakfast on minimal sleep around a hungry baby constantly feeding.

Hang on, how do some people here think it's madness that someone be offered a meal yet people in Police cells will rip to let be offered the relevant meal for that time of day (which oncidemtly is a microwave meal the likes of which some people are saying the policy where they are/where said they couldn't do.

I have just retired after 30 years of working for the NHS, 20 of those as a midwife. I have never come across a stash of frozen ready meals for patients. It would go against every health a safety issue regarding patient food. We always had access to toast and a biscuit for the patients.

You were lucky to get toast, I gave birth at 1.58am, sewn up for an hour, and taken to the ward. I got nothing until breakfast!
I had been unable to eat for over 24 hours before I gave birth as I had a long, painful labour

CandODad - I hear you about people in police custody getting microwave meals according to their dietary requirements. But I doubt this happens quite "on demand/request" at any odd time. I think that's the issue on maternity wards, that women may feel hungry outside set hours.

With all catering services bring privatised and run on a shoe string, you can see why it happens. I know who I blame.