:kiss Hi, nurses, have you ever had a patient who comfronted you about handling their newborns too roughly? I was just wondering because when my cousin had her baby girl she became upset with the way the baby was being tossed around. I understand both sides though. On one hand, the nurse is experience and knows different ways to handle the infant and on the other hand, the newborn is so fragile and should be treated delicately.
So what is your opinion?(be specific and oh if you need to vent about a certain comfrontation, please feel free to do so!) - I get a kick out of ya'll stories.
Y'know, I have to admit, during my first clinical in the nursery when I saw the babies in the football hold, just resting along the forearm of the nurse, I was a little taken aback too. Although that was partly because when I tried it my wrist almost snapped in half. Different muscles to build up, I guess.
I read some research recently that says the combination of sucking and swaddling is like a baby tranquilizer, and I have to agree. .
I highly recommend Dr. Karp's book "The Happiest Baby on the Block". It talks about the "4th trimester", and the calming reflex. It includes the 5 S's- Swaddling, Sucking, Swinging, Shhh (think loud white noise), and Side/Stomach.
Works wonders for Anna. We swaddle her (always have), and if she's really fussy, I hold her close on the side (tummy to tummy), rock back and forth, and give her a paci. The radio is on a static station.
When I swaddle a baby in the parents room, most say "Let me watch how you do that." After the first day most realize how well it works to calm a fussy baby. We have several parents that will call us to the room just to wrap the baby.
Very few complain about how tight the baby was wrapped. I did have one parent accuse me of cutting off circulation to the baby's arm. I tried to explain acro to them. I don't think I got very far, though.
We have pacifiers that are vanilla scented and can not be found in any of the area stores. Most babies will not even take another pacifier after they get used to the vanilla scent. I work the night shift and have had many frantic calls around midnight because the parents decided to clean the pacifier by boiling it earlier in the day, and the pacifier melted. We've had many dads drive up to the hospital in the middle of the night to get the pacifier so both they and the baby will be able to sleep.
I have to speak up.. I am a mother of three and when I had my first child, I was one of those parents!!! Just keep in mind that these babies that you are used to handling, we as first time mothers are not... I tried for over five years with a misscarriage to have a child so when I had my perfect little bundle of joy and a nurse came in and changed her diaper and rubed her so hard she was screaming yeah I said something.. and I was rude!! But, that was before I knew that the first poop is a B to get off.. I know the nurse that I spoke to prob. rolled her eyes and went home and complained about me on her message board lol but I was a new mother with the natural instink to protect my child. I know it was a diaper change but I still had placenta Brain (where the placenta sucks all the brain cells out of you head) lol Now with the second and third child I was more relaxed, the nurses could have bounced them off of the ceiling and I just would of thought it was some new way to get them breathing right.. lol I hope I didn't step on any toes just wanted to let you know how I felt, It is so diiferent with your own child.
The one thing that bothered me the most was the chest x-ray on my 8 day old daughter. It is a bycycle sit with a clear cyclinder that fits around the baby. Their little arms are hanging out the top. It is horrific looking. I realized it was in her best interest but I had to leave the room. Two open-heart surgeries, an infection at the incision site, chest tubes, the pounding on the back from the respiratory therapist and all the other procedures that come along with a 2 month stay in the NICU and that chest x-ray was the hardest for me to handle!
A funny story - When I had my first daughter I was ninteen. I took the birthing classes, but I must have missed when they talked about the baby's first bowel movement! When I opened that diaper I completely freaked!!!! I'm sure after the nurse got the diaper changed and me calmed down, she had a good laugh!
Specializes in CCU stepdown, PACU, labor and delivery.
This kinda makes me chuckle. We get this alot, especially on the slow starters who need some vigourous stimulation to get their breathing on track. I myself just had our second baby in September and this time ( we had a rocky delivery with dystocia first time around so I didn't get my daughter right away) I got her immediately put onto my chest. I flipped her around the other way and started rubbing her back and face the way I would any other newborn. ( She was very wet and cheesy too!) My mom looked at me like I was crazy and said "What are you doing?" Kind of like I was nuts. I responded "stimulating her" my OB and nurse started giggling because my husband asked if she looked like my other daughter and I said " I forgot to look, I was just trying to dry, stimulate and watch her breathing." I've always clicked into mommy mode with my daughter so I started cracking up because I was still going in nurse mode.
Specializes in CCU stepdown, PACU, labor and delivery.
Forgot my other fav thing. Someone had mentioned acro earlier. Get accused alot of not bundling baby in enough covers " she's so cold her hands are blue!" I usually have mom/dad touch the baby, see that he/she's warm, explain acro, then remind them that they shouldn't over bundle their baby to avoid the risk of overheating and SIDS risks.
I have been on both sides ( 3 pregnancy losses just to get a baby ( one of which was at 22weeks with a heart and kidney defect that our future children have increased risks for also having), crazy shoulder dystocia of a 10lb baby) so we were basically of mind that "whatever you need to do, do it" as far as our healthcare providers were concerned. I'm an expert as their mother but not an expert on their medical conditions/care, if that makes any sense.
I highly recommend Dr. Karp's book "The Happiest Baby on the Block". It talks about the "4th trimester", and the calming reflex. It includes the 5 S's- Swaddling, Sucking, Swinging, Shhh (think loud white noise), and Side/Stomach.
Works wonders for Anna. We swaddle her (always have), and if she's really fussy, I hold her close on the side (tummy to tummy), rock back and forth, and give her a paci. The radio is on a static station.
Our supervisor just hung up an article about the 5 S's. I saw it last night, but didn't get a chance to read it, as we are popping at the seems, and it seems everyone wanted to deliver yesterday.
:kiss Hi, nurses, have you ever had a patient who comfronted you about handling their newborns too roughly? I was just wondering because when my cousin had her baby girl she became upset with the way the baby was being tossed around. I understand both sides though. On one hand, the nurse is experience and knows different ways to handle the infant and on the other hand, the newborn is so fragile and should be treated delicately.
So what is your opinion?(be specific and oh if you need to vent about a certain comfrontation, please feel free to do so!) - I get a kick out of ya'll stories
This is soo funny that this was brought up because we were just discussing this last night! I had gone to transition a baby and the baby was failed forcep than successfull CMI-poor little head-he also had a scalp clip during labor-he was dusky-ish (putting it nicely) so I was stimulating him to get him to cry vigorously and the dad said, "Hey, hey be careful you are going to hurt him"-at this point he was still not crying-a touch more harmful than what I was doing-I am unsure if dad actually witnessed exactly how the little babe came into the world-he certainly did not say anything to the doc who was tuggin' on his "soft spot" (always a particular concern!). Anyway, sometimes it gets a little frustrating-I do not tell people how to do their job. Having had a child via C-section and him needing to be *vigorously* resussed (his Apgars were 1(1)-4(5)-8(10)) I know how distressing it is to see someone handle your child so roughly but at the same time, we love to hear babies cry! Parents often get very upset saying, "you're going to make him cry!":devil: That is how I feel sometimes-especially when parents say (to the baby) "here is that mean nurse that makes you cry". ~sigh~
Thanks for bringing this up-I needed to get that out!
When I swaddle a baby in the parents room, most say "Let me watch how you do that." After the first day most realize how well it works to calm a fussy baby. We have several parents that will call us to the room just to wrap the baby.
Very few complain about how tight the baby was wrapped. I did have one parent accuse me of cutting off circulation to the baby's arm. I tried to explain acro to them. I don't think I got very far, though.
We have pacifiers that are vanilla scented and can not be found in any of the area stores. Most babies will not even take another pacifier after they get used to the vanilla scent. I work the night shift and have had many frantic calls around midnight because the parents decided to clean the pacifier by boiling it earlier in the day, and the pacifier melted. We've had many dads drive up to the hospital in the middle of the night to get the pacifier so both they and the baby will be able to sleep.
elizabells, BSN, RN
2,094 Posts
Y'know, I have to admit, during my first clinical in the nursery when I saw the babies in the football hold, just resting along the forearm of the nurse, I was a little taken aback too. Although that was partly because when I tried it my wrist almost snapped in half. Different muscles to build up, I guess.