About length of stay on the postnatal ward?

[csectionsoon]

I had my ELCS today, honestly brilliant care through the procedure and in the PACU recovery unit.

We are now on the postnatal ward overnight and I can’t see how we will sleep at all. It is extremely hot, noisy (someone arguing on loud speaker and three babies who won’t stop crying the poor little mites) and I am in a lot of pain.

They are so slow at coming around with pain relief, even if I buzz it can be a long time before anyone comes. Thankfully DH has a recliner chair so is staying the night and can chase this for me.

Baby seems to be feeding well and the midwives earlier said we should be discharged tomorrow all going well. However, baby’s latch is toe curlingly painful for 10 seconds at the start of feeding. The pain subsides after this. I don’t think she’s got a tongue tie.

I know people talk of staying an extra night to help establish feeding but don’t think the help is to be found at the hospital. Already had a quick 121 with someone from the infant feeding team which was good for pointers and they can do a home visit on Monday, plus we have the community midwife coming Sunday anyway.

I feel daunted as I don’t feel to know what I’m doing but equally baby is having a good number of nappies and seems contented. Hardly cries at all.

AIBU to go home tomorrow asap rather than staying here with the chance of learning a bit more about breastfeeding?

Hey! Congratulations.. I was you a few weeks ago - the wards can be brutal and often home resting is better for mum.

As for the BF, you might be ok but the latch shouldn’t be sore. I found this video helpful..

good luck 🩷

Post natal care is awful in this country - if you and your baby are well then I’d not stay any longer than absolutely necessary.

The postnatal ward can be a particular kind of hell!

Yes, if you’re happy and confident, ask to be discharged tomorrow. There is lots of home support in the first few days, make the most of it.

Unless they have someone who can sit with you for a full feed, you’re unlikely to learn a lot there. I had the immediate toe curling pain with both of mine, it did get better. It could be a latch issue or a positioning issue or a just getting used to it issue!

If you want to be discharged, ask them
first thing, it may take hours to get the paperwork sorted.

Post natal wards are hell on earth (although my last one was great but no partners were allowed which may be why)

Go home but do get support with your latch. It shouldn't be painful. My first was exactly the same with excruciating pain at first and she was tongue tied. As soon as it was cut it disappeared. Get it looked at again and remember most midwives are not qualified to properly assess a tongue tie. If you've got the money go private

Thank you so much everyone. Lots of the staff are really trying but the system just isn’t set up for the volume of patients I don’t think. I will definitely ask first thing, I know they can take a long time to get round to things!

I assumed you were going to be complaining about been chucked out too early.

You've just had major surgery, even forgetting you have a tiny person to look after. Maternity care is awful in this country, but I'd rather be in hospital with medical staff on hand.

You're not going to get any meaningful breastfeeding support on a postnatal ward anyway, go home!

Postnatal wards are pure hell, and probably hotter and noisier. I walked out with DS pretty much as soon as my legs were reliably working again after the CS, and once he’d had his hearing test etc.

I think you go home when, on balance, you will be more comfortable at home.

I had a 40 hour labour, although not a caesarian. I was so tired afterwards, nothing stopped me from sleeping. The other patients could have had a mass brawl and I wouldn't have noticed.

I went home on day four and was grateful for the care. I didn't need much help with ds but it was reassuring to have them within call.

Omg, get out ASAP & get home to your own bed where you can have loads of skin to skin & cuddles.

You could use the remaining time in hospital to find some local breastfeeding support groups/ NCT/ La Leche & maybe order some shields just in case?

Congratulations!

I was in hospital for a total of 24 hours when I gave birth and even that felt too long.

Thankfully it was during Covid so the staff did everything they could to kick you out early if there were no complications.

The latch isn't going to be completely pain free , our nipples aren't used to being chewed / sucked on every ten minutes ! But the discomfort should settle and sounds like it is. Make a conscious effort to make sure your shoulders are dropped and take some nice deep breaths. I had a section 3 weeks ago my third one I found the rugby ball feeding position much better than sideways across my tender tummy
I discharged myself in just under 24 hours and I had my own room- was just desperate to go home they left me 8 hours without pain relief - joke really

Go home op. Hospitals are hell on earth.
If you and baby have been medically discharged just go, seriously. There is nothing worse than endless nights, screaming babies, other people and the horrible conditions. I can remember being told to wait for meds on discharge. I waited. And waited. Literally 8 hours later I was given a packet of paracetamol. I would have happily paid the 16p it cost in the shop. It was horrendous in that place.
There’s a reason dc2 was born at home.
Congratulations on your newborn, now get out of there and enjoy those snuggles.

It hurt for the first month or so when I had DD then one day I think it stopped.

I used to bite my finger and count, I knew that counting quickly, it wouldn’t be more than 20 seconds.

The advice I got was about nipple cream/Shields but I knew it was internal. I think it was to do with my milk coming in.

I can remember the finger biting pain but I’ve just fed my 13 month old to sleep - it’s worth it. I’ve exclusively breast fed DD and it’s been a phenomenal experience.

I had a C Section too, the feeling of getting home into your own sheets is also one of the best experiences too. I’ll always remember those first few days of being in bed, DH lifting Dd into bed for a feed and us all snuggling for days on end.

Latch is sore and yes I would class it as toe curling. My DSis who bf both her DCs advice was, it’s bloody painful for the first 4 weeks then it just gets better.
I had a ritual after feeding, I would clean my nipples with cotton wool and water then dry thoroughly. After that I would cover with Lasinoh. It acts like a barrier cream so when your baby starts to spend longer suckling your nipples don’t become dry and crack.
I never had any problems as a result . After a few weeks they toughened up but I still used Lasinoh after a shower or a bath.
I was lucky, DS was prem so spent a couple of days in NICU then was transferred to a transition ward where you have 24/7 care from a midwife and nursery nurse. There were only 5 beds and only two of us were there for most of the week I was in while DS had light treatment for jaundice.
By the time we were discharged DS was feeding well and putting on weight. I was also well healed after a csection and raring to go when I arrived home.
I can see why maternity homes were so popular in the 60s. Resting and just looking after your new born without the world and his wife hammering on the door hourly was great. Also DS being prem was not over keen on being passed around. I was able to bond without him being snatched away by my MIL because he wasn’t allowed out of the incubator apart from feeding.
He’s now 20 and living the life at uni, although he texts me regularly and he phoned for a chat today. It really doesn’t seem that long since I was first getting to know him.

Post natal wards are absolute hell. Hospital wards where care is needed at all are rough but post natal wards are so much worse as the midwives expect your partner to do most of their work for them, there are newborn babies all around you who cry throughout the night, and if others have their partners with them, it’s awfully crowded and noisy.

With my second I was out the day after an ELCS as all was well and we were breastfeeding fine. With my first, I was kept in for 3 nights, with one of the reasons being that we were struggling with breastfeeding. In hindsight, that was pointless as there was no real support and in those early stages it was only colostrum so all I really did is express and feed via a syringe. I didn’t need to be in hospital for that once the midwife showed me how to do it.

That said, I really struggled feeding my first but we did then get an excellent lactation consultant who was a great support, so there are other resources available aside from the midwives.

So if you’re sure you won’t need their support, then if you’re well, get the hell out of their asap!

Congratulations on the birth of your baby, OP!

Your post made me think about how much has changed since I had my first baby 45 years ago.

In those days, all first-time mothers (both vaginal and c-section births) were booked into the post-natal ward for 10 days. Few of us stayed as long as that, but the option was there if we felt the need. The average stay was about 5 days.

All nappies, sanitary pads and baby nighties for the duration of the hospital stay were supplied by the hospital.

Breastfeeding mothers (which was the vast majority of us) were helped to establish feeding by Nursery Nurses who worked on the wards. There were 3 or 4 on duty at all times. Their role was to support the mothers, watch over and help care for the babies, carry out checks and tests etc. In addition, there was a ward sister and two staff nurses.

I gave birth in a local maternity hospital. The post-natal ward was divided into 6 rooms, each with 6 beds. Not all the beds were full though. I think there were about 20 other mums on the ward at the same time as me. We all got to know each other, used to meet up in the nursery when giving night feeds or when attending a teaching session (such as how to bath a baby etc).

Visiting hours were strictly 2.00-3.00pm and 7.00-8.00pm. No visitors (including the babies' dads) were allowed outside those times.

At 10.00pm all the babies were wheeled out of the rooms and taken to the nursery, which was just down the corridor. Then it was lights out, so the mothers could try to sleep. The nursery nurses on night duty would keep watch over the babies all night in the nursery and when a baby woke to be fed, the nurse would quietly creep into the room to fetch the baby's mum (unless the baby was being bottle fed, in which case they would feed baby and let mum sleep). All feeding at night had to take place in the nursery: babies were not permitted to stay by the mothers' beds because they would disturb others who were trying to sleep.

At 6.00am the doors were opened, the lights were turned on and the babies were wheeled back in, followed by the tea trolley. All the mums were given a cup of tea to start the day.

I couldn't wait to get home, as I found it difficult to get any sleep. I can't imagine how you mothers cope with all the noise and hubub that goes on in maternity wards nowadays!

Also agree with others that breastfeeding is very painful at the very beginning. You’ll get people who say it shouldn’t hurt if you’re doing it right but that’s bullshit. Our nipples don’t have the resilience when we have a new baby so of course it will hurt when you have a tiny human trying to feed from them. But after a few weeks, the pain gets less until it’s completely pain free (until they start biting…!). When I started to feed my second, it didn’t hurt at all as my nipples were probably tougher (and I had only stopped feeding my first 4 months beforehand so that probably helped too).

Go home if that is what YOU want, and you are going to be supported at home. Be prepared to come back if there are problems. I did not have ELCS with any of mine so I don't know about that bit, but my OH hates hospitals and was keen to get me out and away asap - it is fair, the hospitals are hard work for sleep. I have had 5 DC, and although I was keen enough for the first couple to be away (3 nights first, 1 night the rest, apart from the last one) he was quite a difficult birth, 19.00 hrs. and I found myself being showered on a chair within an hour or so of having my son and my OH keen to get away. I think I would have preferred to have had one night in the hospital rather than getting home and dealing with the other 4 at home. This makes my OH out to be a monster, and he isn't, far from - but difficult to advocate for yourself when you have just been through it. As an aside, with DC4 was born at 15.00, a much easier birth, and I did end up staying the night, and I did not sleep hardly at all, and felt very alone in the night. So it is definitely horse for courses, so I wasn't overly protesting with DC5. Hope you get some rest whatever you decide xx

This. Leave ASAP. You will figure it out better at home. Congrats x

Congratulations !
Drink ALL the water so you can get up and wee as soon as that catheter is out. (Your bag isn't full already is it? It's real painful when it is).
Get home and good luck.

I recently had a c section and they kept me two nights for no reason. At the time I didn't think to push back but I wish I had. The care was very poor. They suggested I stayed an extra night to help with breastfeeding but there were no midwives available to support me that evening or overnight.

I was in 4 nights first time ( big tear, massive blood loss) and 6 the second ( twins, C-section with one in special care )

Breastfed all of them and luckily as no one here seems to breastfeed I was given my own room both times. Hence I was glad of the rest and help.
The ward however was noisy and I have no idea how anyone sleeps with people talking all night.

If you’re getting a good rest and you feel you need the help I’d stay. If you want to go home try Laleche or make sure someone experienced and knowledgable about breastfeeding pops round to see you

When did things change because my brother born 1965 had to be born in a hospital as my parents rented a flat but when I was born in 1966 as they owned a house I had to be born at home.
When did this change to everyone in the hospital
Any idea ?