Ward temperature

[unknownscot]

The ward I'm in post natal is 28 degrees. Surely the nhs has to address this when it's stated on their own website that this is not safe for newborns!

[wherestheegg]

Does being so hot breed more germs?

I remember this too and the hat business really confused me. They wrapped Ds up so many layers, vest, long sleeve sleep suit, hat in July. I was sweaty and he was too. Plus I thought skin to skin was the idea. I then had him in just a nappy feeding, then I laid him down in the cot after hours of trying, just to go for a wee and they said he'll freeze and started layering him up in blankets and he woke up again. Honestly, if they need to be hotter than the sun for 24 hours then explain this, but I don't and didn't understand it one bit.

[OhRiRi]

I was in for a week at the end of November. Had to go to another building via outside for a procedure during my postnatal stay and it was so hot in there I'd genuinely forgotten it was winter

[Pinkflipflop85]

@GrowThroughWhatYouGoThrough

That's pretty standard on the post natal ward I work on it regularly. Unfortunately due to covid there's restrictions on fans at the mo

We were told off for putting fans on long before covid!

[pitterypattery00]

The first night after I gave birth the room was boiling! Had hot water pipes running through it that apparently couldn't be turned off and the windows didn't open. First thing I did when I went into the room was turn on the fan and the midwife told me off as it would be too cold for baby! I felt like an idiot!

Second night we were moved to another much cooler room. I was really glad I had brought my blanket from home. By that point baby was in a (very warm) light box for jaundice.

I've recommended to friends to pack layers!

[MsOllie]

It's sweltering everywhere! I was on a neuro ward and thankfully they gave me a side room, which had an opening window
I opened it and the staff kept coming "checking on me" which translated as my room was the only cold place in the hospital

[RaspberryChouxBuns]

I've given birth during two 40 degree heatwaves. I was surprised Satan himself didn't turn up to help me birth the child it was so hot. They tried to put me in a warm bath first time around, I just felt like I was bobbing around in a broth, second time they inserted my pessary and I sat outside the hospital waiting for it to work, couldn't face going in. When baby was born they gave her a wooly hat for her head, just in case she felt cold. Meanwhile I'm blasting myself with Evian water sprays and drinking litres of water. I'm due again in August and I'm praying it'll be a wet one 😅

[GrowThroughWhatYouGoThrough]

That's pretty standard on the post natal ward I work on it regularly. Unfortunately due to covid there's restrictions on fans at the mo

[RandomQuest]

I gave birth to DD during a 30+ degree heatwave, had a private room and the midwives kept telling me off for opening the window. I had DS at a different hospital during a sub zero cold snap in February any my room would have been 10+ degrees colder than the first time but they didn’t seem remotely concerned for baby, which proved the first lot were talking utter bollocks.

[PeterPomegranate]

@mummymummymummummum

I wish the one I was on was only 28°C!

Indeed!

[Lolly1987]

Yes they're always boiling. I remember with one of them I had to keep the catheter in for 2 days so I couldn't get dressed. I had to wear a dressing gown with them green compression stockings and the sweat was pouring from me. Thankfully I was in the end bed next to a window so I could open it a crack.

[ChangedMyNamrButStillMe]

My overriding memory of my first day with my newborn baby was being on a ward hotter than the sun. I was so sweaty I kept dripping on his poor little head when he was breastfeeding. There were 6 of us on the ward and 1 of us was permanently in the shower as it was the only place slightly cooler than the surface of Mercury.

[PeterPomegranate]

Christ. I remember when my husband visited us on the postnatal ward and said his legs were sweating which had never happened to him before. It was like the surface of the sun.

[Passthetena]

@addler

It's ridiculous. I was told DS must wear a hat in the hospital even though it was 26 degrees in there, then got told off when the midwives came to check him at home the next day because he should never wear a hat indoors even though it was 18 degrees in our house.

Oh my god I had this! Midwife came round the day after we got home and told me off because the house was too hot (22 degrees and baby was in a vest and sleepsuit) when just 23 hours earlier we'd been in the sauna post natal ward with hats, blankets and multiple layers on the whole time! I was very confused and paranoid about temperatures after that.

[whatwhhat]

Three kids and every post natal ward was unbearably hot. I opened a window with one and the father of the baby in the next bay complained. I asked him how he was planning to take his baby home if it couldn't even cope with an open window. It was so hot I had my head practically hanging out the window.

[addler]

It's ridiculous. I was told DS must wear a hat in the hospital even though it was 26 degrees in there, then got told off when the midwives came to check him at home the next day because he should never wear a hat indoors even though it was 18 degrees in our house.

[SquigglePigs]

Yeah, it's insane. DD was born in December and I still had a fan because it was so hot. I guess better than cold given trying to learn how to breast feed but they do seem to take it to the extreme!

[mummymummymummummum]

I wish the one I was on was only 28°C!

[Pinkflipflop85]

I gave birth during a heatwave. The post natal ward was hell on earth. We weren't allowed to open the windows and fuck knows why there were fans in our bays, because every time we turned them on the midwives came and turned them off again.

[RubyRoss]

I also thought it was to do with keeping babies warm. Was also told they need hats even in summer because the heat escapes from their heads.

[itsjustnotok]

This might help OP. secure.library.leicestershospitals.nhs.uk/PAGL/Shared%20Documents/Thermal%20Protection%20of%20the%20Newborn%20UHL%20Obstetric%20and%20Neonatal%20Guideline.pdf

[gamerchick]

It's always sweltering on those wards. I remember it from my first even who is 27.

[ChuckMater]

Isn't it because new born babies can't regulate their temperature so it has to be hot?

[FatAgainItsLettuceTime]

Hotter than the fires of hades is the default setting on most hospital wards I find.

I was induced and had to stay in the night before DD was born waiting for the pessary to kick in. No sleep at all, spent the whole night waddling round the hospital trying to find a cool spot or air vent. Even took myself off on a little wander down the road to the local Tesco express for supplies And to stand next to the fridges at somewhere around 2am.

Luckily when I was admitted last year for gallbladder troubles they kept up the supplies of morphine so sleeping was easier.

[unknownscot]

They just said Ach that's just the temperature of these wards

😡

[abeanbaked]

They've probably added more beds where there didn't used to be, they did that in the multi bay I was in. It was roasting hot, they made us stay behind our curtains too because of covid. A HCSW had my baby swaddled and wearing a hat, as soon as she left I dragged myself out the bed and took off the layers of blankets, it was sweltering!

Tell them OP.