I am going to describe a very unique scenario and I am interested in other nurses thoughts and opinions.
An adoptive mom came in with a birth mom. Before delivery, adoptive mom explained that she had brought in pumped breast milk (from 2 of her very close friends who were nursing there own children) to feed the baby during the hospital stay. (For certain medical reasons, this mom could not produce her own breast milk, or she would have nursed the baby herself). The birth mom gave her verbal and written consent for this...included in the birth plan that she came in with. I, as the L&D nurse, did not have a problem with this plan. So, after delivery, adoptive mom fed baby the pumped breast milk.
When I went to visit both moms and the baby the next day, adoptive mom informed me that the entire postpartum floor was in an uproar, infection control had been notified, risk management involved, and she had been told that she could no longer feed the baby any of the pumped breast milk. After some time, staff allowed that if the 2 sources of breastmilk could come in and be HIV tested, they would allow adoptive mom to feed baby the pumped milk...maybe. The two friends did come in right away and since both had recently delivered at this very hospital, offered to have the staff look up their medical records (which included HIV results). By this time, moms and baby were ready to go home. Yes, they chose to leave after 24 hours. Home to a happy home with plenty of love and a freezer stocked full of donated breastmilk.
What would You have done.....and what would your hospital have done? Oh yeah.....someone is now researching this and coming up with a protocol.....like this scenario will ever happen again!
Since there have been many posts about "mandatory HIV testing" I just want to clarify that we DO NOT have mandatory HIV testing for pregnant women at my hospital. They are offered it during prenatal visits by their provider, most do it, then again offered at the hospital if they haven't done it before....they can and do occasionally refuse. This "need" by the staff to have the donors come in to be tested was purely an off the cuff reaction. The two women did come in, but like I said, mom and baby were ready to be discharged by that time, so no-one was re-tested.
I certainly appreciate everybody's feedback on this issue....I have some new ideas now. It is good to get other perspectives. At the time this happened, I was too angry to think about other perspectives.
I am a huge adoption advocate, as both an adopted child and a future adoptive parent. This angers me as well. Many people do not understand that there is a great deal of discrimination against adopted children and adoptive parents. This is just one example of an adoptive parent being denied the same rights that a biological parent would be. Sadly, there is a great deal of stigma and a lack of education surrounding adoption.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
This is a great thread, one of the most interesting in a long time.
I can understand that there may be infection control issues if the milk wasn't stored properly. I can also understand that if there would be 'leftover' milk, there may be a question of taking an outside container and storing it, um, where? Generally not in the med fridge, and not in the staff fridge. So where?
And how do we know what is in that container? I am playing devil's advocate here - I actually think it is beyond wonderful that this woman was getting help from her 'village'. But I also understand that the hospital has issues with this.
But as Wooh pointed out - any hospital that has a NICU has women coming in all the time, bringing in bottles of milk from the outside. You NEVER know what's in that milk. You assume that what she's bringing is her expressed breastmilk, expressed under the conditions recommended to her by the hospital. Nobody asks "is this YOUR milk, or someone else's?"
This doesn't speak to the OP, but I don't understand the mandatory HIV testing. Why is the baby taken away after birth if mom refuses HIV testing? What if mom refuses testing for the baby? After I had my babies (not in NY), the hospital had to have MY consent to do any testing, bloodwork, immunizations, etc. I'm the parent, they need my consent. Don't they need Mom's consent to test the baby for HIV, then, too? What difference does it make if baby is HIV neg or pos, as far as breastfeeding is concerned? If baby is neg, that does that mean can then BF? Well, just because baby is neg, doesn't necessarily mean that mom is neg. Sounds like a bunch of money-wasting, unnecessary testing. If there are no risk factors for HIV, why test for it? Anyway, just my two cents (as a mom, not a nurse!)
Specializes in Geriatrics, L&D, Medsurg, Mom/Baby.
I think your hospital is nuts. If this Mother wants to feed her Infant breast milk then that is her business. I'm sure she made sure the milk was coming from a safe donor. Some people are so uptight about breast feeding.
If we spent a bit more time actually doing right by patients, we wouldn't have to spend so much time covering our butts, and then we could spend more time doing right by our patients!
How much time was spent by staff turning this into a capital offense heard all around the hospital? What could they have been doing instead if they'd just used a bit of common sense instead of worrying about there not being a P&P for every single thing that might come through the doors?
Wow, how lucky is this mom that she has friends willing to pump for her baby!! That is awesome. I don't see what the big deal is... If the parents say the milk is ok, then give it to the baby. If someone really goes though the mountains of issues with adoption AND finds someone to pump milk, do we really think this parent is out to hurt the baby? What about NICU babies... Should we trust it is really milk that the moms are bringing in? And that it is THEIR milk? This is a lucky baby to be given liquid gold.
I pumped for a friends baby and gave her a few months worth of milk.. She had to go through chemo and had to wean. She got lots of milk from other mothers, too. Her baby was breastfed by others for about 6 months! I think he made it to 18ish months being breastfed. She took the milk from private mothers and milkshare. It is WAY TOO costly to go through a milk bank unless your insurance covers it for a preemie or something. Why should a baby be denied the good stuff just b/c it didn't come from their mom?
.thumb.jpg.c7668bfa5410f3ac85642dd9c6980a34.jpg){kind=small}
She took the milk from private mothers and milkshare. It is WAY TOO costly to go through a milk bank unless your insurance covers it for a preemie or something. Why should a baby be denied the good stuff just b/c it didn't come from their mom?
redbeads
74 Posts
Since there have been many posts about "mandatory HIV testing" I just want to clarify that we DO NOT have mandatory HIV testing for pregnant women at my hospital. They are offered it during prenatal visits by their provider, most do it, then again offered at the hospital if they haven't done it before....they can and do occasionally refuse. This "need" by the staff to have the donors come in to be tested was purely an off the cuff reaction. The two women did come in, but like I said, mom and baby were ready to be discharged by that time, so no-one was re-tested.
I certainly appreciate everybody's feedback on this issue....I have some new ideas now. It is good to get other perspectives. At the time this happened, I was too angry to think about other perspectives.