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.

I had my DD in 2007 and there was a ward for mother's and babies that needed extra care but not NICU (or had been in NICU but now well enough to come to a ward)

That had a nursery and it was brilliant ime. Always two nurses in there, could leave them there whilst you washed and we were encouraged to leave them there overnight. Baby would be brought to you at night clean and changed so all I had to do was concentrate on breastfeeding.

It allowed me to recover from a traumatic birth and establish BF, I really think it saved me.

It did happen like that for me with my second baby. Was just serving up dinner, waters suddenly broke and baby was here half hour later!

Luckily I was having a planned home birth so I had a homebirth pack already in the house with any equipment they needed and a midwife expecting to attend to me at some point in the next week or so.

That particular daughter still lives at full pelt do doesn't surprise me now she arrived so fast.

I had my babies in the early 90s and remember there were a couple of incidents: one where someone walked out of a hospital with a baby and another where the babies were mixed up (this may have been in America). They terrified me and I think it was at that point or thereabouts that it became a thing that you were allowed to keep them with you all the time because I remember being grateful that I could (also remember taking them into the bathroom)! Also stayed a lot longer in hospital with my first than with the others, and I seem to remember that was partly because there was a lot of research suggesting you and baby were more likely to pick up bugs in hospital and getting out early if you could was associated with good outcomes. Perhaps also a cost cutting exercise I suspect, as it must have been hard to staff good midwife care for babies as well as mothers.

When I was born in the 70s mother's were transferred from the delivery hospital to a cottage hospital run by grandmotherly types who helped you establish bf and learn how to care for newborn, babies went into nursery overnight and were brought to dm for feeding. Time for mother to recover and be supported and cared for ....sounds like bliss 🥰 .

Even in the US nurseries are a dying breed. When I was pregnant there all the hospitals my insurance would accept were ‘baby friendly’ aka they’d ditched the nursery to save money under the guise of some UN breastfeeding guidance. Thankfully moved back to the UK before the birth and went private so had the option of the midwives taking baby whenever I wanted to rest.

When I had a newborn and explaining why I couldn’t mix feed to mum as it had been explained to me, she told me when I was born they took all the babies over night and gave them bottles through the nights as a matter of course and then back to mum during the day to breastfeed. She had got upset because she wanted to exclusively breastfeed so they let her try but she’d had a section and was in pain so a lovely midwife explained that she had to rest to heal. She stayed in a week and hated it but after seeing me out after 24 hours and without having any medical checks or sleep she’s changed her mind.

In the private hospital where just the birth costs upwards of eight thousand pounds and the cheapest room is over a thousand pounds a night?

Mine both stayed at the midwives desk for several hours a night whilst I was after giving birth. This was 2008 and 2010.

The midwives offered when I was in for a week with DD in 2008 and then when I went back in to have DS in 2010 I knew that I could ask, so I did and they said yes. There was a little room behind the desk where they were all lined up.

This was Hinchingbroke in Huntingdon.

I had my youngest in '93
There was a nursery
My grandson just born this year ..no

I had a very similar birth to you OP, and my second was a c section. My mum assumed mine had both been in the nursery while I was there and was surprised I had been looking after them all night alone 😂 she had all of hers in the 80s so it was definitely a thing then.

Looking after a baby all night by yourself when the spinal block hasn't even worn off is definitely a challenge!

I had a post partum haemorrhage and was not mobile for a while after DS was born in 2002, they took DS away for several hours after he was born and then again overnight for the first night. I wasn’t really aware of all this and would not have been capable of caring for him. He was bottle fed while away from me, they spoke about a baby room rather than a nursery. DS came back to me happy and contented. It didn’t cause ‘issues’. No mention of nursery and DD with me all the time in 2006.

Ancient history but I was born in 1976, my Mum spent 5 days in hospital (most new mums spent 7-10 days but Mum was fine and an experienced mum so she was allowed to go home early) and new born babies were all in the nursery and were brought to Mums every 4 hours for feeding round the clock. Visiting was a couple of hours in the middle of the day and in the evening. They were taught how to wash and care for babies as well as how to feed them and how to do after birth exercises to get back into shape and there was a lot of emphasis on this. Mum somehow established breast feeding successfully and I was breast fed for 6 months. She said it was a lovely rest, the midwives were great with the babies and she went home able to manage the whole household well.

I had my first in 1998 and there were definitely no nurseries then

my daughter had her first baby last year and despite being on HDU (due to the hospital’s incompetence) she was just left alone with the baby

she was on oxygen, had a catheter and several drips and wasn’t even allowed any visitors due to it being HDU. Her partner left to try to get some sleep (after being up for 48 hours) and no one was allowed in to help my poor daughter. She was told security wouldn’t let me in even if I turned up

it was beyond barbaric

I was born in 89, my mum was in hospital for 10 days following a c-section but I was with her the whole time.

My oldest was born in 1979 and despite a straight forward birth we were in hospital for 9 days . The first two nights DS was in the nursery. In 1981 DD was born at 2am and taken to the nursery. I had to ask to see her in the morning! Fast forward to 2002 and baby was with me full time after having a CS but we did have an individual room for the first two nights which was great .

My second came like this, I had him outside the hospital in the grounds. Only difference was waters went in the car.

First was less dramatic but my waters went in a big gush like on TV. I know it doesn’t usually go that way.

It was babies by the bed except in special circumstances when I had my first in 1987. She was in the nursery the first night, after I'd had an emergency section in the early evening after an 18 hour labour (so missed a complete night of sleep). She was brought to me in the night a couple of times and basically plugged onto my boob while I was more than half asleep. Fortunately she was a great feeder straight from the off.

DD2 was born in 1988 and was by my bed.

My mum said this (I was born 1970s). I got two days after my C section, and the ward was so understaffed and dysfunctional that I could not wait to get home.

@DancingPhantomsOnTheTerrace 😔'best for baby and mum' innit?

Private hospitals in Australia still have nurseries where the babies are looked after overnight. The nurses call you when the baby needs feeding.

I had dc1 in 2010 via emcs. I was in for 3 nights and on the last night a kind midwife took dc1 for a few hours to sit on the front desk with her while I slept (dc1 was very alert!). I was so grateful for a few hours of rest as I'd previously been falling asleep holding her in bed.

The hospital had DS overnight in 2006 when I was recovering from an EMCS and bf was a nightmare.

Some of you act like babies will be scarred for life if they can't stay next to mum. Prem babies get taken from their mums and put in another room all the time, do you think that's terrible too?

In my case my daughter wasn't taken away but I certainly wasn't looking after her so same difference really. I'd been awake 48 hours, in labour for hours and then had an episiotomy and was in a lot of pain. In fact I'm not sure they should let you drive home in that state but the hospital didn't seem too worried.

Anyway I ended up in hospital with sepsis a week later so hardly saw her for another two weeks and guess what she's fine and we have a great bond now.

If babies can stay with their mums then obviously that's great but if not it's not going to cause lasting trauma if they don't. I think forcing mums to look after their babies when they need to sleep and recover is worse and even potentially dangerous to the babies.

I had my first in 1999 and he was in the nursery over night and brought to me for feeding. I'm not sure why, there was no medical reason for it. I was in for 5 days, again no reason, though it did enable me to get BF established.

I'm reluctant to find out why (even if I could) in case someone thought I wasn't coping.

DS2 - 10 years later. Had him at 9pm and could have gone home at 11pm but asked for a bed for the night so I could have one night just me and DS2. I had him in bed with me.

Both ends of the spectrum!
Both boys are fine - currently not awake while I sit on the terrace in our French holiday home.

Not MY holiday home (I wish!) - a rental.

No newborn nursery for me in 1983. We stayed in hospital for around 5 days after the birth, and if you wanted, the nurses would sometimes take the baby for a few hours at night to give you a rest.