Breastfeeding when LO in hospital?

[ohdearwhathappened]

I'm posting this quickly and wont be able to reply for a while for obvious reasons.

LO (9 weeks) is in hospital we've been given an estimate of month for the admission, I have other children and need to get out from time to time, also the hospital we are waiting to transfer too wont allow me to stay the night.
Any suggestions about expressing, when is best time to get out, how to manage it all.
sorry to be so brief I'm just dashing back there now

i would absolutely insist on staying the night with a 9 week old!!!!!

personally i would spend as much time there as poss, to breastfeed on demand and then just express as and when while i was at home

hope your baby is ok

unicef baby friendly for neonatal units

Not sure if it applies as 9 weeks not neonatal really but worth a look.

You should be able to stay with the baby as much as you wish, I would consider contacting PALS at the hospital to clarify this, as it seems unlikely to be offical policy. hope you sort something out

why can't you spend the night? tbh I'd be challenging that for a start. is it intensive care? . if so, is there any chance you can stay at the hospital in a room away from the intensive care ward but still on site - ronald mcdonald accom or similar? neonatal rooms for mothers establishing bf?

can you ask for contacts with the mw team/neonatal team for places to store bm and borrow a breastpump. you might also get meals for you if you are bf.

bliss have some useful leaflets about expressing and bf - link herewww.bliss.org.uk/publications.asp?itemid=7&itemTitle=Breastfeeding+your+premature+baby&section=578&s ectionTitle=Download+or+order+Bliss+publications

nct bf counsellor number is

0300 330 0771

hope your baby is soon on the mend

you can also request donor milk rather than formula if your baby does need feeding while you are not there - it is v expensive which would be why they might drag their heels but is worth asking

Your hospital should definitely allow you to stay whenever you want - overnights as well. To separate a 9 week old baby and mother at night is outrageous.

Thanks
I surprisingly find myself back at home for an hour.

Unfortunately, we're waiting to go to a rather famous paediatric hospital when we were there last they wouldn't give accommodation if you lived in the same city, breastfeeding or not. 'Living' was based on postcode so if you had a very distant postcode but still a city one you were out of luck if you were 20 mins away by direct public transport but your postcode was not city you could have a room or Ronald Mcdonald your choice.

I have suggested to dp we magically move to my parents house when we transfer .

The situation may have changed since we were last there I'm not sure.

However we are looking at at least 4 months in hospital (by my conservative estimate!) and I have 2 older children, one is spending most of the time in tears and is currently ill and off nursery hence I'm home, one has her reception nativity play coming up and I would like to go.
At some point I will have to go and do some Christmas shopping.
dp works very full-time (he has cut one day a week but still has to be there the rest of the time-it has been made very clear to him) he will still need to get out early sometimes eg to talk to Docs etc. He does not have a perm. job so we need to keep them happy.

I thought it was routine for Mothers in neonatal units to be sent home (I'm always amazed when they manage to keep breastfeeding going) some of the children are also in for months!

We're not in neonatal but in paed bit dc was term so feeds well.

Does anyone know which is the best feed to skip and express for early am? early evening? overnight?
I was thinking to try and spend nights in to keep feeding going (that's 3 feeds) and perhaps skip one or two (and express) during day to do all the other stuff (not every day obv.) does anyone think that would work?

how are you all doing and did you find a pattern that works for you all? sounds hard trying to balance all the family's needs. hope you are doing ok