Hospital should feed breastfeeding mums?

[NurseRosie]

AIBU to think that if your baby is in hospital and Mum is staying as fully breastfeeding, the ward should feed Mum? The NHS is not spending money feeding the baby as mummy us making the milk. Baby feeding sometimes 2 hourly and very clingy as unwell. Ward have only given tea and biscuits. Restaurant expensive and open funny times, for example baby upset over lunch yesterday so didn't get down until 2 and they'd stopped serving hopt food for the day. Do you think they should offer mum a meal?

@casschops you say she shouldbt be fed then say its different if she can't leave the baby. She's saying she can't leave the baby so does that mean she should be allowed food? How dovyou determine who can't and who won't? Of course its different for non bf carers, they're not providing the child's food

And the op even implied that she was happy to pay for it, but the availability wasn't there!

If you're expected to provide caring duties for the patient that the nurses are too busy to do then I think food should be available in some way, maybe by paying for a patient type meal. Living out of a vending machine is costly and not good for anyone's health. An exclusively breastfeeding mother is providing the sole nutrition for the patient and can't exactly just swap in with someone else for the day to get a break and go shopping.

As loads of people have pointed out, if the hospital is large or not near supermarkets then you're limited in the amount of time you can spend getting it. Not everyone has a nearby support network who can bring food in.

Of course, if you're at home you have to provide your own food. Presumably, you also have a kitchen, fridge, freezer and time to cook. It's more like the equivalent of only having access to the upstairs of your house and being expected to cater for yourself.

No, feed your bloody self. The NHS doesn't have the money.

So was there sandwiches available also? There just wasn't any hot food?

When I was in a children's hospital with DS I was very grateful that they did feed breastfeeding mums (even if only from the kids menu). The nurses also popped by to offer juice on a regular basis. I felt really well looked after.

And I needed it, tbh. DS was 1 week old, I was struggling after a 3rd degree tear, and had spent the previous week with him in the neonatal unit (an hour away from home, no parent accommodation).

It felt like such a luxury to be able to stay in the same room as my newborn after a week apart, that I couldn't bring myself to leave the room. I went to the canteen with DH once and hated it. I couldn't drag myself away from the room again the rest of the week.

I am so thankful for my week of rice crispies and sausage rolls, and sad to think that someone in a similar situation would have that extra thing to worry about, trivial as it seems in hindsight.

I mentioned upthread about a trolley coming around a hospital ward bringing reasonably priced, healthy cold food and snacks. I'm seriously considering it. I'm no business woman but perhaps I could go on Dragon's Den. There will be a market for this, not only on paediatric wards but also on general wards when patients don't have family or friends but want snacks outside of meal times.

Order a takeaway to be delivered

Sounds fab crash.

sadly I would make no profits if I did that as I would be up giving away things to people who had no money with them.

Actually when ds was first in 7 years ago a trolley like that did come round but that doesn't happen anymore

That is ridiculous! I can understand that there isn't the money on the NHS for this to be a priority, but I am in a European country where the state health care receives a lot less funding and I got 3 full meals plus a mid morning and mid afternoon fruit and biscuits, all labelled "Mrs toomuchtimereading exclusive breastfeeding diet, dietitian approved"! Was made up!

Santa you do realise ffing mums are doing all that too. Ff babies need their mothers feeding them when ill not anybody.

Making up formula isn't a picnic in hospital. I've done both.Pumping was easier. When my baby was in intensive care I had to pump and put in a fridge,I actually fed my baby less myself as they had times they wanted her fed,they did everything and she wasn't next to my bed.

When in with my ff son I did most of the care and prepping bottles.

I find this idea of treating non breast fed babies as second class ie not deserving of of needing their mothers pretty despicable. The same goes for ffing mums. Most ffing mums have tried and failed to breast feed. Watching other mothers being fed whilst they go hungry because they failed at something will just make an even shit time shitter. You really want ffing mums to sit there and watch whilst the bfers tuck into their roast?

If you want all mothers to have a meal and the cash taken from somewhere else then fine,if not sorry it's just wrong.

And Toomuch I'll wager your European country fed the ffers too as it's only this country that likes to ludicrously shame and gilt trip mothers into bfing.

Feeding the BF mothers isn't about shaming FF mothers, that's ridiculous thing to say, it's about enduring the BF baby gets the best nutrition it can via its mother.

GreenGinger2

Its not about doing the caring it's about the fact the baby in hospital is solely breast fed and relying on the mum for their entire calorie intake.
If the mum isn't eating enough and not producing the same amount of breast milk or without all the proper nutrients they won't get well as quickly.
It's nothing to do with FF shaming and I FF both of mine so I'm not a breast feeding 'pusher' couldn't think of a non offensive word sorry

I just spent a week in Bolton hospital with ds... ebf 5 month old.
I got all meals and toast at night.
On the bottom of the menu they wrote bf mum :)

Glad for you Northern.

So stuff them anyway regardless of how it makes them feel. A 2 class ward. Those fed and those not.Lovely.

Don't all mums of sick babies need optimum nutrition then? Many mums of sick babies are using formula in order to keep their babies hydrated and weight up when poorly.

They certainly fed BF mums in Lancaster last year.

For those whose argument is that you'd feed yourself at home so bring some sandwiches - what happens if your child is seriously ill, and you can't leave their side in case the worst happens or in case your consent is needed for something? Or if the hospital is nowhere near food shops? Or you've spent every penny you have on food for home, so can't just pop out and buy an overpriced sandwich every mealtime for a week or more?

Are we really at the point where we're squabbling about whether a bfing mother on the ward is more worthy of a hot meal than a ffeeding mum?

Fucking heartbreaking.

If any parent is on a ward 24/7 then their child needs them there and they should be given sustenance.

How low can we sink that denying a semi-resident in a hospital the basic amenities they would have at home is somehow a topic of debate?

It's pitiful that this is a conversation around packed lunches and the relative nutritional value of vending machine sandwiches instead of a discussion on the NHS crisis

I wager that those hospital s who feed ND mums also provide formula. My hospital did.

Breastfeeding mums.

When dd was in for a week at 5 months I got offered hot meals. Paediatrician told me I absolutely must continue to nurse her because my milk contained antibodies which would help fight off the suspected brain infection. It's not just food, Breast milk contains mums antibodies which help sick babies recover quicker as their immune system is immature. If a BF baby recovers quicker and frees up a bed a day earlier I'm sure the saving to the hospital will be greater than the couple of quid paid out on mums hot dinners.

I haven't read the whole thread but OP, your sense of entitlement really does know no bounds.

I've been in twice with a poorly bf baby and have been fed both times. They didn't offer till they saw me feeding though as they are not mind readers.

ReturnoftheWhack maybe before throwing around insults, you should read the whole thread then, or at least op's posts!

Can I make a plea?

If you know a parent who is doing more than one night in hospital with a child, make time and take them some tasty, wholesome, fresh food.

It really isn't all that easy to eat a regular balanced diet when on the ward with a sick child. And it is horrendously expensive. And after days and days of it, dispiriting: same old pre-packed sarnies and cheap yogurts....

The parents' kitchen usually has one small fridge for maybe 20 families, is full of the special prescription mills etc.

When I have been on the children's ward of a big hospital you get parents who were admitted from 80 miles away in the middle of the night. They have no near by friends, the other parent or other available carers are looking after the other kids, or can't get time off work for an all day round trip.

It isn't as easy as many people blithely say.

So, if you've said 'get someone to bring you something ' on this thread, be that person who takes good food.