When did newborn nurseries stop being a thing?

[Al991]

Just a question stemming from a conversation with my mum, who said she slept all night after birthing my sister while she was cared for in a newborn nursery in hospital. I’ve only seen this on American TV shows.

I was in labour for 48 hours then had a 1.5L postpartum haemorrhage, a 3rd degree tear and moderately serious surgery but I had the baby with me the whole time and thereafter.

just curious as to when we stopped having newborn nurseries and what the history of this is! Was it part of the push for breastfeeding? My sister was born in 2000.

@lemonstolemonade Antrim Area Hospital..

Probably not handy for you and it's a shambles of an A&E.. but the maternity care was top notch

There is, both hospitals (different hospitals, different counties) I gave birth in in 2008 and 2018 had them, they are small (more like a large cupboard/small office next to the nurses station with about 6 of those wheeled bedside cots in) and not a default thing that babies are forcibly or automatically taken to but they do still exist.

The woman in the bed opposite me kept getting told to use the nursery. She would wander off (smoker so constantly going out) and leave the baby alone all the time (sometimes for hours when she got chatting to people). They kept explaining to here everyday 'you can come and go whenever you want but you HAVE to put the baby in the nursery so hes safe and accounted for, you can't just leave him on you bed or in a corridor'.

I was born mid 80s Canada. I have a picture of me in a nursery with lots of babies.

I visited my newborn cousin at the window 89 still a nursery then.

I had a baby in the UK 2003 and he was kept with me.

So I'm guessing early 90s they stopped.

My child was born in 1978, natural birth in sense of no stitches or any problems, In hospital for a week, there was a nursery you could go and stay/visit , babies brought to you at feeding times. On night 5 babies brought to you and stayed with you all night until you left.
we all slept loads in preparation for going home.
My memory of it is all pleasant.

I'm the other end of the curve, @Craftycariad - my longest labour was 37.75 hours (ds1) and my shortest, a mere 20 (ds3) with ds3 clocking in at exactly 24. 😂

My 5th son was a term baby in the nicu so we were separated for 5 days. After about day 3 he became more aware of his surroundings and he used to scream all the time. When he joined me on the postnatal ward he was a lot more settled and only ever cried when he was hungry. There wasn't a nursery on the postnatal ward and we were meant to leave our babies with our visitors if we wanted to go to the loo or have a shower. Although the ward clerk used to have ds in her office for me because I only had visitors for about 2-3 minutes once a day. This was in 2014.

Oh bless you, if mine had been that long I may only have had one !!

Well - it is just as well they were cute, @Craftycariad! 😂

So it seems that 1998 there were nurseries in maternity and by 2003 the nurseries had disappeared in most maternity wards

I don't think you can generalise like that, @MikeRafone - I had ds1 in 1993, and there was no nursery on the post natal ward at my local hospital.

I admit I have not read the whole thread but what would happen to a baby if the mother was seriously ill after the birth ie in Intensive care? Would the baby be taken to Special care baby unit even if not actually unwell? I know people will say the other parent would have to step in but what if there isn't anyone. The situation must arise sometimes surely.

I was in hdu after my 5th was born and I had a midwife with me all the time. Ds5 was in nicu because he was poorly too but I don't know what would have happened if he had been well, maybe the midwife would have looked after us both. Dh couldn't visit because he was at home looking after the other 4 dc.

There has to be provision for some 'unaccompanied' babies. Otherwise where would abandoned babies end up. (I know they go to Foster care quite quickly, but that must need some time to arrange).

Interesting. My eldest was born 2009. Whilst there was no nursery the midwives/nurses did take her for a few hours during the first night so I could sleep. The ward was about half full. They even gave her a bottle to top her up - I was attempting but failing at BF’ing. Second night though on an empty ward and just me, they left me to it. I cried more than my baby did and hoped they would come and take her but no one offered. I called my DH who was at home just because I was so upset and tired.

I think you might have got muddled up, colostrum is the thick, yellow liquid that comes before the milk comes in, not thin and watery.

My sister was born in 2000

I was expecting you to say your sister was born in about 1960.

My dc, and my nieces and nephews (except one born in 2002) were all born across the 1990s and babies were with their Mums the whole time then.

My dh's Grandmother said they were kept in for about 2 weeks and the babies were taken away to a Nursery.
My Mum had us at home in the 1960s, but on Call the Midwife, if a Mum was in the Maternity home, the babies were in a Nursery then and just brought to the mothers by a midwife.

I'd say your Mum / sister was very unusual in 2000.

Thanks so much for that book recommendation. I’d not heard of it (was published after my youngest was born) so I’ve just ordered it. Though my breastfeeding days are long behind me, it’s a subject I feel passionate about as a women’s issue.

www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/3504675-the-politics-of-breastfeeding

Had my first dc in 2000. I'd been up since 5am when I had really bad diarrhoea, then contractions started at 7am then gave birth at 9:50am, so fairly quick. That night in hospital, the midwives offered to take dc down with them and bring him back when he needed feeding. I had 5 hours sleep!

We did get taken back in when he was about 5 days as he had jaundice and had to go under the lights, and I remember it was late at night, and the midwives had all the babies who were away from mum, lined up in their incubators, the radio on low, and lights dimmed and they were sat around drinking tea. It was a really relaxing environment.

When I had dc2, I came home after 6 hours so don't know if they still done this.

My baby born 1979. Difficult birth; severe postpartum haemorrhage; bad tear. Massive blood transfusions. Baby in "nursery" and we had to kick up a fuss for him to brought to me. In hospital 10 days!! Not the best experience. Nursery principle very established then.

I had my fbdd in August 1988. The babies all went to the nursery at night or in the day if you wanted a shower. My first night I slept right through as the midwives fed her. They also gave bottle fed babies individual bottles of milk. My friend had her FB 4 months prior to my pfb & the hospital supplied nappies! Four years later and when I had my second dd the babies stayed by our beds & we had to bring everything in with us. I stayed in hospital for a week with dd1 & 5 days with dd2. My eldest dd had sections with both of her dds & was home the next day!

I had my eldest in 2011 and there were no nurseries. But a midwife did take her away for 2 hours on the second night so i could get some sleep!

I remember the baby nurseries when we went visiting aunties in the 1980s here in Ireland but they were definitely gone in our local hospital by the late eighties. My mum says that the new mums rest and recuperation was really taken seriously and I know there was even an outside sitting area in our maternity hospital so children could visit and on sunny days everyone would be sitting outside drinking tea and chatting.

I had my first baby in 1969, by emergency caesarean and like you almost died during the delivery.I did not see him till he was two days old and honestly cannot remember much of those two days as I was very ill.
He was with me during the day after that, but I needed help with him.At night he was taken into the nursery.I was in hospital for a fortnight and only had him during the night for the last 3 days. I asked for this so I could get used to it before we went home. I had the classical incision which is very rarely used these days, it takes longer to heal and was not myself again for about 6 weeks.
My second and last baby was born in 1972 also by emergency section.I did not nearly die this time but was separated from him for first 2 days like the first time and he slept in the nursery at night.
Even the mothers having uncomplicated deliveries had their babies kept in the nursery at night.
My sister had her babies n a GP maternity home at the same time as me.Hers were straight forward births but she had her babies taken into the nursery at night. Was only in for 4 days.
It was the ''done thing'' then.
All of my grandchildren, except one who was premature, were home with their mothers after two days, my great grandchildren went home same day.
How times change.

When I had DS2 2 weeks ago they had 2 lables on the ankpes PLUS an electronic ankle strap thing (like prisoners) 😂 only be mixed up if someone removed and swapped all the babies tags 😂

I was born in '73 and was taken to the nursery.
My eldest was born in '97 and there was no nursery in our hospital.