to be confused by newborn suffocating during breastfeed? :(

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www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/28/parents-suing-nhs-newborn-suffocated-breast-feed-due-negligent/

Would like to get other people's views on this situation? As someone who has breastfed, I'm really confused and saddened by this situation. However, I'm not convinced the midwife is to blame either

Notumbongo

And why wouldn't a mother exhausted from birth trust a midwife?!

When I had ds1 in an emcs under a general due to pre eclampsia I was feeding him at 3 am a couple of days after. I was on morphine and didn’t know what day of the week it was. I woke at 6am with ds slipped down the side of me face down. I’d fallen into a post breastfeeding/drugged sleep.
Not a day goes by that I don’t think of that and shudder and think how very very lucky I was that he didn’t suffocate. I was in a side room and no one had checked on me for hours.
This could have been my story, I went cold when I read this. We’ll never know exactly what happened but it probably occours more than you’d think.

The only thing/person to blame here is the shocking understaffing in the nhs.

Have a little empathy people. Those poor parents.

Ah now come on. I’m trying to be a circumspect here, but just think about it. There’s a long list of things you could do to a newborn that would be dangerous, but it isn’t the NHS’s job to tell you NOT to do them (on pain of getting sued).

It’s perfectly obvious to anyone with any parenting capacity what those dangerous things are, and most people have enough instinct and common sense not to do them.

Which is all entirely different from needing help to get a latch, for example.

How do you know this? Have you heard all the evidence in the case?

All of the post natal wards are very understaffed, it's a well known fact. The mother was left alone shortly after birth whilst trying to feed her baby for the first time, I don't believe this would have happened if there was sufficient staff.

Unless of course the midwife just fancied going out for a fag or for a cup of tea, somehow I doubt it.

I had to do a first feed in secret as the midwives on my post natal ward were so aggressively against anyone even trying! And yes, this was in the UK and only half a decade or so ago.

I was shouted at repeatedly, ‘we don’t have TIME for that nonsense and you’ll all fail on this ward anyway’. C-section ward.

I tried to establish bf in secret, ds was given bottles against my wishes, and after that h bought and sneaked in a express machine and I pumped in secret too. I suppose you could look on it that I should be grateful, as their aggressive awfulness gave me the determination to breast feed against all odds!

So I am baffled at the idea of a midwife even giving advice let alone staying to help until the end of a first feed.

All horribly sad.

This is a desperately sad case in which a baby lost their life and the parents have to live with it, It's very sad for everyone involved and I don't see why it needs to be in the public attention at this point in time , I hate that everything goes to the press.

@Battleax the mother could have been off her face on drugs for all we know. Or most likely so exhausted she couldn't see straight.
The bottom line is that she should have had support in feeding her child until she got the hang of it.
Post natal care is woeful in this country.

This is a desperately sad case in which a baby lost their life and the parents have to live with it,

No, she’s alive, but disabled due to hypoxia.

My best friend hasn’t just made a formal complaint about the hospital she gave birth in, part of which was the lack of care from the midwives.

She works in the same hospital, in a different ward. They’ve thrown the understaffing “excuse” at her too and she said it’s crap. Their staff: patient ratio was far lower than other wards and she thought they were lazy.

I was quite surprised, but I guess some know better than others how hospitals should work

Excuse me- their staff: patient ratio was far higher than other wards

@Battleax the mother could have been off her face on drugs for all we know. Or most likely so exhausted she couldn't see straight.

The father was there throughout and we can assume he wasn’t drugged at all.

If we get to the point where every new mother needs 24/7 minding by a midwife to ensure she doesn’t instruct a baby’s airway, the NHS will buckle under the strain.

Can’t you imagine the consequences if the midwife is held liable?

What other instructions will midwives have to issue to be safe? “Don’t immerse the baby in water while bathing it”? “Remember to clothe it sufficiently”? “Don’t feed you baby adult food”? This is social services territory not midwifery.

Obstruct^

It would be lovely if the NHS had MWs who had time to dedicate to lovingly making sure their new parents were doing childcare 101: do not smother your infant but - not least because of suing a pretty much free public service - the NHS is unable to provide this level of care. So parents (who can absolutely afford to pay for a private birth) sue the NHS. Thereby reducing the funds available to make the next woman's birth better. And so it goes into an ever decreasing circle where we will end up with private healthcare by stealth. And couples like this won't ever have to worry or care because they will be covered by their employers' healthcare insurance (and they are anyway for most stuff, except an ordinary birth isn't covered in the UK). And poor women will be stuffed even more. But who gives a fuck? Because the clever people's babies will be okay//

there must be something to it for her and her DH to be suing for potentially millions

Not necessarily. They are looking for someone to blame which is understandable. There are no winners here its just a dreadful situation.

I agree that low staffing is always blamed regardless. When my DD was born, there were ample MWs on the ward but they sat in a separate room and did very little. Every time I asked one of them for help, she was always going on her break. I was always promised help, but it never materialised. However no one is ever allowed to make comments like this, as we must always blame lack of funding, never people not doing their jobs.

Having said that, this case of suing the MW sounds ridiculous.

Couldn’t agree more orchid.

God that could have done with a few paragraph breaks. Am angry. Here's a better version:

It would be lovely if the NHS had MWs who had time to dedicate to lovingly making sure their new parents were doing childcare 101:" do not smother your infant" but, not least because of people suing a pretty much free public service, the NHS is unable to provide this level of care.

So parents (who can absolutely afford to pay for a private birth) sue the NHS. Thereby reducing the funds available to make the next woman's birth better. And so it goes into an ever decreasing circle where we will end up with private healthcare by stealth.

Couples like this won't ever have to worry or care about this because they will be covered by their employers' healthcare insurance (and they are anyway for most stuff, except an ordinary birth isn't covered in the UK). And poor women will be stuffed even more.

But who gives a fuck? Because the clever people's babies will be okay.

And yes, I'm very cross about this.

This is a desperately sad case in which a baby lost their life
She didn't lose her life. She is still alive. Poor family. It does sound like the situation was not preventable and not.the midwives fault.

There must be more to this otherwise why aren't babies suffocating durings feeds in countries where there is no post natal care? Very sad but the midwife isn't to blame.

I have given birth to one baby at this hospital. He was v v premature and spent a long time in their NICU. I am in touch with my midwives and the neonatal nurses whom we see regularly with my now much older (and healthy) baby.
It sounds to me like something happened post delivery and the baby needed oxygen and had breathing difficulties. Would it not be reasonable to assume that what happened subsequently was related to this?
However she is a bereaved mother and is clearly looking for someone to blame. But I have big boobs, I eventually breastfed my premature baby (he came home weighing roughly 4lb fully breastfed). Surely no one has to tell you not to smother your child. This sounds like the act of desperate grieving parents.

OrchidInTheSun

So parents (who can absolutely afford to pay for a private birth) sue the NHS

But who gives a fuck? Because the clever people's babies will be okay.

but their baby isn't ok is she? Are you saying that because they are wealthy they shouldn't sue? Based on the information we've been given it does seem they are misguided but they must be heartbroken and I personally have compassion for both poor and wealthy people whose babies suffer life changing injuries and damage.

The NHS is there for all. That includes wealthy, clever and successful people

Sorry I realise she isn’t a bereaved mother, but she is obviously grieving what could have been.

I think they want it to be someone else's fault, how awful must it be to know that you caused your child severe brain damage? You would want it to be someone else's fault too.

I almost suffocated my son while breastfeeding. He was premature and we were due to be discharged that day but had to be resuscitated and stay in another week. I had just got engrosed in conversation and hadn’t noticed and when I looked down he was blue. It was bloody awful and a hard learned lesson! He’s 9 now and fine but I still feel sick when I think about it.

Had the rescuacitation not been successful then I’d have had to face the fact that it my fault, and deal with he guilt.

Blaming someone else would have been shameful.

I agree with Battleax. It’s a tragedy and I feel terribly for the parents. But that doesn’t mean it’s someone else’s fault.

We really can’t expect midwives to brief us on everything to do with babies and if they don’t they’ll be sued. We have to take personal responsibility in informing ourselves. Where does it end? Do doctors have to notify everyone individually not to smoke because it causes cancer, even though that information is in the public domain.