Can I take my husband and baby to emergency outpatient appointment?

[Gardeniaofdelights]

Sorry, posting mainly for traffic!

I have been given an emergency outpatient appointment in hospital tonight due to absolutely debilitating pain caused by gallstones. Can I bring my husband and 3 week old baby? My baby is exclusively breastfed and won’t take a bottle, so he needs to be with me for feeding. When the attacks happen the pain is so vicious I can’t really safely be in charge of my baby at the same time, hence wanting my husband there too.

Will I be allowed to bring them with me? Hopefully the appointment will be short and they can just wait in the car but if there’s any time waiting around (I know how these things can go) the baby will almost certainly need fed. I just don’t know whether with Covid they will have provision for this kind of thing.

I went to an emergency outpatient appointment a few weeks ago and my breastfed baby was then 2 weeks old. They did encourage me to leave baby with dad but honestly it’s just not possible. I took him with me in the sling, it was all fine. At the end of the day he was born in a hospital, too...

I'm all in favour of breastfeeding but did leave my baby with a bottle when I needed someone to look after her for a while.

Get better soon.

Take your baby with you. They won't refuse you care because you can't be separated from your ebf baby.

I’d leave your husband in the car with baby. Try express if you can and you many find if you’re not there baby will take a bottle.

take baby in the pram

Explain the circumstances and ask about the trust breastfeeding policy - do not feel bad about making a fuss about this, you and baby are essentially one unit and should be treated as such. The harm caused by your worry, babies distress, and loss of some of the benefits of being exclusively breastfed (even after just a couple of bottles) plus the risk to your milk supply etc mean this should be absolutely facilitated even in current circumstances, especially with a 3 week old. Unfortunately there is massive variation between hospitals and departments.
If you’re happy to say which hospital and have any issues if you let me know I’m on a few doctors breastfeeding support Facebook groups and could ask for specific help if that helps.

@Higgeldypiggeldy35

Have you tried expressing? Maybe baby could take a bottle in an emergency? Otherwise surely they must make an exception in the circumstances?

Will he not take a bottle from you or from anyone? My first baby wouldn't take a bottle of anythng from me but would take one from anyine else, until I walked intot he room!

Your baby can go In with you it’s allowed and if you then need to take baby back out to dad you can it will be your husband that isn’t actually allowed inside of that makes sense
Just been through similar myself with mastitis and you are allowed i had to kick up a bit of a fuss but got my way as wasn’t going to leave a baby out in the cold being walked round so husband waited outside and if I needed examining etc he took baby then and then when I was scone I’d bring her back and I was told if I needed to stay they woukd find us a room but luckily I didn’t

Scone-done

Also if you do need a cholecystectomy it should only take an hour or two. Have a bottle of expressed milk or formula on standby but if all goes well you shouldn’t need it. Baby can feed just before the operation and as soon as you are awake and alert. The last thing you need after an operation is to develop mastitis!

@PeanuttyButter

If you need a cholecystectomy what will happen then? Can you not try expressing in the meantime and see if baby will take a bottle while there is still the option of breast if needed? Good luck OP x

I had a family member with a very young baby need a gall bladder operation and she recovered on a postnatal ward so she could feed her baby and have her with her. Baby friendly hospitals should be accommodating newborns and postnatal mums.

I work on reception at a hospital outpatient unit. We’ve been told that we’re not allowed to let people in together unless the patient is mentally vulnerable, unable to communicate or disabled. It doesn’t stop people trying to sneak in (usually one will go straight through to the waiting room whilst their partner checks in) but the nurses and in department admin staff will usually confront them and kick them out.

You might be able to take baby in with you but DH definitely wouldn’t be allowed in unless you claim to be vulnerable.

Surely any mum of a 3 week old in agonising pain is pretty darn vulnerable!

@Notthe9oclocknewsathon if you’re going by that definition surely anyone who needs to be in a hospital in the first place is pretty darn vulnerable!

I don’t make the rules I just enforce them

Is there a chance that they will give you medication which you shouldn't breastfeed while taking? Perhaps as a contingency your DH can find somewhere open to buy formula as a back up.
Good luck OP! 💐

Just ask them. Honestly they'll advise the best thing to do in the situation. They will understand about EBF baby and also that if you have an attack you can't look after baby. DH may need to wait in case with baby etc. If so and you need to go out to feed obviously tell them in case you get called. They may let him bring baby to waiting room or something.

It'll be ok just ask :)

@DianaT1969 hopefully not - most medication for surgery should be compatible. OP - look at the drugs in breastfeeding help sheets on the breastfeeding network website. They have a pharmacist Dr Wendy Jones who is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Probably any medication you might need is covered by the help sheets but if you need more advice you or your doctor can contact her directly (free) and she will give personal advice.

@Gardeniaofdelights

Thank you everyone I’ll have them both wait in the car and get husband to text or call if he needs fed.

If I do need my gallbladder out I will express in advance and hopefully we can persuade the baby to take a bottle when there is no other option!

Thanks so much for your responses.

Hopefully you can have keyhole surgery as a day case. This is pretty much the norm now, unless you have complications or underlying medical issues.

[quote TheChristmasPrincess]@Notthe9oclocknewsathon if you’re going by that definition surely anyone who needs to be in a hospital in the first place is pretty darn vulnerable!

I don’t make the rules I just enforce them[/quote]
Well yes, to varying degrees. Hence why a bit of empathy wouldn’t go amiss. ‘Computer says no’ isn’t it.

Sorry @TheChristmasPrincess that was unduly harsh. I’m sure it’s been a very stress year. Apologies.

@Notthe9oclocknewsathon I was about to say the same thing to you, I re-read my response and realised it was unnecessarily arsey. It wasn’t needed at all. My apologies!

Thank you so much everyone for all the helpful advice. In the end I was able to feed my baby just before I went in and then he slept til I was back out. I am going to need my gallbladder removed but it will take a while for me to get a space on the list so I can express and work on getting him to take a bottle before then.

Thanks for all being so lovely and helpful.

Try a cup - neither of my EBF babies liked a bottle, but would drink from a cup that was help up for them

Yes.
You and your baby count as one unit. Ask your husband to carry your baby and when they challenge remind them that your baby nurses every 45 minutes to two hours like a healthy baby should.
If they say that there's too many people in one room, ask the staff to leave.

If you search pregnant then screwed, a mother was admitted into a ward following an infection and her ebf baby was refused. A huge petition went on as separation of mother and baby at such a young age is hugely distressing and can affect their development. Baby's should never be separated from mum for your opp/overnight stay.