How long can you stay in hospital after having a baby?

[TheVoicer]

Hello!
New to this and hope I'm doing it right!
I've read some stories about new mums being made to leave hospitals straight after giving birth?
Is this true or a load of rubbish?
I don't know if I'd want to leave early or stay - but I'd definitely like the choice.
does this really happen?
www.sundaypost.com/news-views/uk/new-mums-being-pushed-out-of-maternity-wards-1.399639
www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/new-mum-forced-out-hospital-1957892

Are you a pregnant mum or a journo? Just so as i know whether to share or not.

mum that's new to mumsnet
Just read it on those sites.
Wouldnt have thought anything of it, but its on lots of sites.

Why don't you ask your midwife what the policy is in the hospital you will give birth in?

Many hospitals are keen for mum to return home ASAP, but you are within your rights to refuse to leave.

Recently a friend was discharged at 2am, having given birth at 11pm. She told them she intended to stay overnight and did.

Another friend who was keen to breastfeed stayed for 3 days - she put in her birth plan that she intended to stay on the postnatal ward until she was confident that feeding was established.

Some mums love to whizz home as soon as possible, but you don't have to do anything you're not happy about.

Will depend on all sorts of things. The type of birth you have, how long the labour, any health complications.

But in general, if you are physically well enough to be discharged then discharged you will be. This is very much my experience of the NHS all round. You do not get a choice.

With my first dc, delivered at 12 noon, postnatal ward at 2, starting asking about discharging myself by half four, discharged at 6pm. This was very much my choice and I could have stayed over night if I wished to.

My second dc was a home birth.

Dc1 - complications so was in for 3 days post delivery.

Dc2 - no complications...delivered at 10pm and discharged by lunchtime next day.

With DD I gave birth on the Thursday just before midnight, went home Saturday evening, although they were going to keep me in until the Sunday due to low iron, I told them I had iron tablets at home and asked to go home, they said I could. It was my choice.

That second one...that's a really complicated place to give birth as it's a very small town with a very small hospital, without on call specialists and when I lived there you weren't actually expected to give birth there, you were booked into a labour ward in a bigger hospital in a much bigger town unless you'd already had a very straightforward first labour and delivery where they were relatively certain it could be handled with just midwife care.

So unless you live near Oban (or in fact on Mull which makes it even more complicated) I would ignore that story.

With my third, I was at home on the sofa breastfeeding and eating takeaway curry 4 hours after she was born, but that was my choice...

At ours we have to be in a minimum of 6 hours.

Three nights and two nights. I had c-sections both times.

At the hospital I choose, you have to stay until the baby has had his/her newborn check. These take place between 9am and 11am each morning.

With a first baby they are very unlikely to kick you out straight after birth I think you can count on at least 24 hours (if you want to stay that long if you really wanted to be discharged you could probably get out earlier) after a straightforward vaginal delivery of a first baby. If you have a complicated delivery or a c-section it'll be at least a couple of days.

In my case I was in for four days with #1 (c-section), about 5 hours with #2 (VBAC - I could have stayed in longer if I'd wanted) and about 30 hours with #3 (VBAC, meconium in waters so kept in for observation).

I have birth in the "big" hospital (very traumatic, complications etc) at 930am and was discharged by 2pm.

Luckily, my local hospital has amazing midwife led facilities and they checked me in there and I stayed 4 days. They told me I should never have been discharged so soon from the former hospital.