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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Am shocked at this

32 replies

neuronsattheready · 28/10/2010 17:28

My sister is in hospital with her 8 week old baby who is EBF and is very poorly.
He's been in there nearly a week already and my sister is not being given any food!
She was told that they only feed bf'ing Mums if the baby is 10 dayss old or under!!
Baby is poorly and only sleeping on my sisters chest so she gets no break to go and get food .. if she does get food from outside she is not allowed to eat it on the ward and she isnt able to be away from baby long enough to manage that.
she is living off crisps and chocoltae from vending machine.
Am so shocked. All the encouragement to bf to 6 months and you dont get fed to help you keep it up!!

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 28/10/2010 17:35

does she not have family/husband/partner who can hlp out?

to be fair, while it would be lovely if they oculd give food, the NHS is cash-strapped as it is
and it wouldn't hurt her to go to the canteen and buy herself something

i honestly do understand that she doesn't want to leave him, but it isn't something i would be that shocked by

tiktok · 28/10/2010 17:36

That's terrible :(

I can understand they refuse to feed her (she is not a patient but strictly speaking, a visitor and why should they feed visitors?) but it is odd that she cannot eat food on the ward, or that no one can bring her food to eat there. Poorly babies need their mothers close by.

A complaint to PALS, or a word with the sister or modern matron?

ariane5 · 28/10/2010 17:39

how sad, thats really terrible and while its easy to say she should go to the canteen if her baby is really unwell she cant leave him to go and get food.

i see no reason why she cant eat food that somebody has gone and got for her though that seems a bit extreme not letting her eat on the ward.

id just get somebody to sneak me food in even if its just a sandwich as shes bf and needs nitritious food not crisps and choc.poor thing

ariane5 · 28/10/2010 17:40

nutritious not nitrious food! that sounds a bit dodgy!

bobblemeat · 28/10/2010 17:41

I was fed when my 5mo ebf was in hospital. Essentially if your ebf baby is an inpatient then you are an inpatient too. If she does eat on the ward what will they do to her?

thisisyesterday · 28/10/2010 17:43

yes i agree, she should be allowed to eat on the ward. unless it's some sort of high dependency/intensive care type place in which case i'm not sure you're allowed to?

on a regular ward tho, i think i'd be sneakily having something!

Original poster
neuronsattheready · 28/10/2010 17:44

i just thought it was shocking as i remember when dd was 16 mnths and in hospital they fed me as i was bf'ing, so thought it was policy everywhere!

my mum has taken her in sandwiches hidden under a towel! but i still think its bad that they want her to eat far away where she cant hear if the baby cries!

OP posts:
Original poster
neuronsattheready · 28/10/2010 17:46

its a normal ward. they say its health and safety reasons i think in case anything hot gets dropped on the baby Hmm

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 28/10/2010 17:48

if it's in case she drops hot food on the baby then they can't really complain about sarnies can they? lol

Original poster
neuronsattheready · 28/10/2010 17:50

still wont let her eaat saarnies on the ward though, she is not up to argusing about it even though it doesnt make sense at all!

OP posts:
Blu · 28/10/2010 17:50

This sounds very difficult.
When DS was in hospital as a baby (not as young as your DN) they practically force-fed me on horrible hospital food once they discovered I was bf, so it must be a hospital-by-hospital thing.

Is s/he in a high dependency unit? there may be rules about bringing in food because of wanting to maintain a sterile environment or something.

She must be incredibly anxious - can anyone go in and relieve her and stay with the baby while she has a walk round, some fresh air and some decent food somewhere? I have spent long stints in hospital with DS and ask visitors to bring M&S salads and picnic food, and the children's wards we have been in seem to have a small kitchen for parents to prepare hot drinks and toast in.

MotherMountainGhost · 28/10/2010 18:06

Just shows what a load of underfunded crap the NHS is. I went in to hospital with DD1 many years ago when she was ill at 7 months, but still breast-fed. Not only did they feed me proper food, but when they heard I was still feeding her they got me a crate of water to keep my liquid intake up.

This was not in the UK, of course.

"it wouldn't hurt her to go to the canteen and buy herself something" - the OP has said her sister needs to stay with her baby. Even if a partner comes in the evening and lets her get away to the canteen, that only means one meal a day, which is ridiculously little for a breastfeeding mother. The most shocking thing is not being allowed to bring food into the ward even if her partner does bring her something healthy. The NHS really defies logic.

Best of luck to your sister and her baby, neuronsattheready.

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 28/10/2010 18:08

yes i was fed when I wnet in for the day with ill 7mo DD, as was DS.

pozzled · 28/10/2010 18:16

That is awful. She should definitely be allowed to eat on the ward. When DD was in hopsital at 15 months it was fine to bring food in, people were bringing in take-away pizzas or whatever. I wasn't bfing so wasn't fed myself, but DD was being brought full meals and hardly eating any of it due to being ill- we were encouraged to finish it off to stop it being wasted.

Out of interest, if the baby was being FF, would the hospital have to provide the formula? Or are young babies the only patients they don't provide any food for?

DialMforMother · 28/10/2010 18:21

The NHS has faults as would any organisation that size but it's not 'a load of underfunded crap'. They do wonderful things with very little fuss and no thanks every day.

Is there a chance this might be coming from one or two Jobsworth members of ward staff and not everyone? It's a shame (but understandable) that she's not up to making a fuss but could someone else get their breastfeeding policy and wave it around at them?

MoonFaceMamaaaaargh · 28/10/2010 19:32

Agree with dialMformother.

Mothermountainghost 'a load of underfunded crap'. I saw a man who could not walk physicaly dragged out of a hospital and dumped on the snow covered pavement. That was in the states. That would never happen with our load of underfunded crap. [hsad]

Sorry for hijack op. Hope your dn is better soon.

SpecialC · 28/10/2010 19:42

When DD was 5 mo, she was admitted in hospital for a few days and I was allowed food since DD was EBF. They told me babies + BFing mummies can be fed...

so, yes, I am shocked to hear this!! Best of luck to your DSis!

coppertop · 28/10/2010 19:46

When my dd was in hospital for a week when she was around 9mths old I was given hospital food because I was bf'ing.

I agree that you should find out whether this is actually a hospital policy or just a decision made by individuals.

I hope your sister and her baby are home asap.

Liv77 · 28/10/2010 19:47

I would contact your local paper, it's amazing what a bit of bad publicity can achieve.

DirtyMartiniOfDoom · 28/10/2010 19:47

Sick Kids hospital in Edinburgh fed me breakfast, but not other meals, when I was in with EBF baby for two nights. They did allow food (nothing hot) on the ward, though, so I was able to nip out to shop and/or have stuff brought in to me.

I am at a loss to understand what they expect people to do in your sister's situation Confused. Seems irrational and unworkable to say the least.

StewieGriffinsMom · 28/10/2010 19:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Horton · 28/10/2010 19:55

Good God, this is awful. REgardless of breastfeeding or not, surely a sick baby needs his or her parent close by, not running off to buy and eat food. And the H&S thing is vaguely understandable but as StewieGriffinsMom says what on earth is the problem with sandwiches and fruit?

thefirstmrsDeVeerie · 28/10/2010 19:56

I spent years in hospital with DD. It cost me thousands of pounds to keep us both fed. The food they served up for DD was awful and sometimes actually dangerous - reheated food for a child with no immune system Hmm

I had to buy at least 6 meals a day and her hospitals were both in central London. Many times I couldnt leave her. YOu cant just leave a child on cancer treatment. They can become seriously ill in a matter of hours and at any point someone will walk in and want to stick a needle in them, give them blood, meds etc. You HAVE to watch them all the time when they are so ill.

Food was a huge issue for me. I lost about 2 stn and my darling girl became anorexic. Anorexic on chemo! It is still an issue that I find very hard to deal with.

On her ward one of the expatients had to raise funds to have a vending machine installed and stocked for a year. A ward for teenagers with cancer FFS. Begging for food to tempt them to eat. Chemo fucks up your taste buds and you have to eat to get through two/three years of chemo.

There was no kitchen to speak of for the parents.
Oh I could go on all bloody night about this. Its not something that would bother you for a couple of days but for months and months when your child is fighting cancer.

It is bollocks and I really really hope things have improved.
Sorry but its a bit of a trigger, this subject.

AppleAndBlackberry · 28/10/2010 19:57

I wasn't given any food in hospital with 4 month old, I think that's fairly standard, but they had a parents room where you could make tea and toast and microwave your own stuff and the canteen was not that far away. Shocked that she's not allowed to eat on the ward.

DancingThroughLife · 28/10/2010 19:59

Which hospital is she at? Can we march down there with food parcels for her?? Smile

Surely they're not going to argue with a bunch of het up MNers.

Hope your sister and DN are home soon.

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