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 gave birth to my 3 DC in the 1980s. The first 2 were born in a mother and baby hospital (now closed). The babies were kept in a nursery at night. They had names tags on their wrists and ankles plus on their cot. Unlikely to get them mixed up as frankly most babies look different, anyway, but the tags were extra checks.
The staff woke the mother up to feed. They would come and get you and the mother would feed baby in the nursery at night to avoid waking up the other mothers. We did not have our own rooms and were in a small unit.
I remember a mother who'd had a cesarean complaining they woke her up at 7.00. But the staff said they did the night feed for her (she was not breast feeding).
Last baby at a different hospital and babies were kept with the mothers but it was mainly voluntary.
The woman next to me woke her baby up to feed and it kept crying and kept me awake!

I was born in 1974 and my mum mentioned the nursery. She was then transferred to a maternity home, not sure how long she stayed. I wasn't breastfed so it wasn't to help with that in her case, maybe other baby care aspects.
Having extra help in hospital would be great but it's lack of staff. I had a wonderful student midwife who helped me get going with breastfeeding. She popped in the next day to see me too.
DM had a straightforward pregnancy but birth sound very medicalised and full of interventions which I don't think she necessarily wanted. Obviously, things can change giving birth so it isn't all a nice calm water birth but it seemed like there was no choice.

Not in the UK surely.

Mine were born years before yours and they were not taken away at night.

This seems to vary across the country.
No one I know who had their babies in the 1980s or later had their child taken away at night.

No nursery but I think I’d have benefited from one with my first. The first 24 hours between us we were on hourly obbs and after a 3 day labour I was going slowly insane with the sleep deprivation. By night 3 I called my husband at 3am telling him i couldn’t do it anymore and needed to leave hospital. in hindsight I did just need a lot more support re feeding (which didn’t work) and recovery for me after very tough labour. Baby no 2 was a very rapid birth and easy- I wouldn’t have needed or wanted anyone to take that baby away to a nursery.

I think ensuring babies are kept with their mothers after birth is a big part of UNICEF's baby friendly initiative? Which I believe is all about raising breastfeeding rates.

I was taken away 1982 but my sister 1986 was not, South East.

I’m sure it depended on area but I know that I was taken off my mum in 1979 when I was born then when she had my brothers (1985 and 1987) they no longer took babies to sleep elsewhere. She spoke about it quite a bit.

I would have hated for my DC to go to a nursery when first born, I wanted them with me and would have panicked if they weren't there. You do get extra help if you really need it, I had DC2 last year and was put in a private room instead of the ward for a few reasons, was checked on often in the night and midwives offered to help. They didn't do this for everyone though.

Yes I was shocked when my first was over 24 hours and that the babies didn't all go away at night.

When my mum had me and my sister she was in ten days and the midwife's looked after the babies at night so the mums could rest.

When I had dd I couldn't walk due to epidural, they didn't believe me so tried to make me walk causing a fall and several cuts and bruises. They couldn't understand why not being able to use or lean on your legs made lifting a baby out of a cot more difficult

I had my first child in 2001 by ECS and one night they did take my baby for a short time so I could get a little bit of rest. They were quite forceful about it but I was too tired to argue. I couldn't sleep without my baby anyway and tbh there was an undercurrent of me feeding him too much so it wasn't great for me.

2001 and baby was with me all the time.

My mum was a nurse during the war, the matron’s rooms were above the maternity nursery, and my poor mum ended up doing night duties for over six months because the matron said “No one can keep those babies happy like little nurse Viques Mum.” So the mums and Matron had their good nights sleep, but my poor mum…….

Round about the time my last DC was born (1999) someone walked out of the hospital with a baby from the post labour ward, and so our hospital had a policy that all babies stayed with mum (unless they needed UV light treatment in a special room or NICU).

I had the option of using a night nursery within the last 10 years for my 2 children, but this was a private London hospital. I have no regrets using it.

I think it was sometimes more logistics. My first one (late 80s) was in a nursery overnight because the ward wasn’t considered big enough to have all the women (12or so) and the cots overnight. There was the option of the nurses waking you to go through to feed the baby over night or for them to feed the baby overnight. These were the days when you were in hospital 5 days after having your first! And I can promise you, I am every bit as close to my first as I am to my last, who was with me constantly after delivery. There is a lot of scaremongering these days about getting “enough” bonding time. You know who your baby is, and your baby knows who you are.

What really annoys me nowadays is that women aren't even allowed to have one full night's sleep after giving birth? Why aren't we allowed to properly rest just for one night after going through labour?

I had my first in 1986 and newborn nurseries were definitely a thing. I had to fight to have my baby by my bed in the ward.

What was barbaric was being expected to look after a tiny baby after a section with a general anaesthetic. The little one constantly crying and being sick and trembling. Having a midwife actually yell in your face "you'll need to get up with him at home you know". Of course id have to get up but not hours after a GA off my head on morphine as I didn't have time for a spinal.

Turns out I wasn't actually a useless mother DS had sepsis and a genetic condition. I understand taking the babies to nursery was far from ideal leaving a mother with no support and constant criticism is not great either. And yes definitely I know I have to get up with him at night he's 17 and hasn't slept a full night in his life.

My DM in 1966 had this. She said it was perfect. A week in hospital, even after a normal birth was the norm. Babies looked after during the night so Mums could rest, pottering around during the day. She even had a state provided "mother's help" for a week when she was back home. I was her fourth, so hardly a new Mum as well. Personally I think we have gone from one extreme to another. Having your baby with you 24/7 is not ideal either.

My babies were born in the 1980s. The maternity ward was well staffed and run by a strict ward sister who would direct the nurses to go round asking mums if they needed help with anything. We were taught how to bath, change and feed our babies, had exercise sessions, only two hours visiting a day with a limited number of visitors per bed, decent meals, hour long afternoon naps with lights off. Nappies and little baby robes provided. For the first two all babies were wheeled into the nursery at bedtime (same time every night and strictly observed, with a bottle of stout for anyone breastfeeding). They were brought to us in the night if we chose this and were BF, otherwise the nurses did the night feeds. By 1986 for my last baby, babies stayed at your bedside if you wanted, but nothing much else had changed. I stayed in for 5 days each time - you had options after the first to go home after 36 hours, 3 days or 5 - and it was a great opportunity to rest up and get to know your baby. We had proper care then, at least in this area, up there with private hospitals now, and I feel so sorry when I hear about the poor postnatal support that so many of you suffer.

In 1998 when I ha my second baby - nurseries were still in the hospital for you to allow the midwife to care for the baby

We used the night nursery at the Portland in 2009, it was wonderful to have a full nights sleep after giving birth and I have no regrets.

I had my first in 1993 - hr was with me, but when he didn’t settle he was taken away to the nursery (possibly the nurse’s station - to let me sleep for a few hours. Never been more grateful in my life.

I know in Italy they still exist, especially in the south, where it’s totally normal to have your baby brought to you when they need feeding. When I had mine in 2022, they took her for the first night (I gave birth at midnight and was far too exhausted to look after a baby) and brought her back in the morning. It was lovely! It’s obligatory to stay in for 3 days too (5 with section) and loads of help available, so just generally a more old fashioned way of doing things.