IL RN

Thanks to all of you for the wonderful suggestions. I, too, have this problem, especially during our cold, dry midwest winters. One thing I found out is that I am allergic to lanolin and so many lotions contain lanolin. I have had some luck with aloe gel and Fruit of the Earth Aloe lotion (because it contains no lanolin.) I'm going to try some of the products suggested on this thread. Thanks.

Our hospital made this switch about 4 yrs ago and there was much resistance from staff. I was new to the unit at the time and had done this at other hospitals. At this hospital there is still a well-baby newborn nursery to do initial baths and take care of babies when moms want to sleep, shower, etc. and at night if mom desires. There is only one RN in nsy. We have 200+ del/month. The average pt load on mother/baby is 5-6 couplets, sometimes as high as 8 and keep in mind some of these moms are new C/S's. If the census is low and you have only 4 couplets then it's ok. I work mostly L&D but we all have to rotate so I get my share of time in Mother/Baby. I also worked for a while at a large teaching hospital with 3 mother/baby units of about 20 rooms each. There the MINIMUM load per nurse was 5 but you usually had 6. You did ALL the baby care as the babies were only allowed in nsy at night (I worked PMs) As soon as you discharged a pt. you would be assigned a new one. No time to chart. Everyone charted at the end of shift, after giving report to next shift. There were many multiples (lots of twins & triplets) so you could have many babies. On my second day there I was assigned 6 moms and had a total of 10 babies - 3 of them were triplets who needed tube feedings that I had to do! That place was a nightmare and I only stayed 4 months. Theoretically couplet care is a good idea but it needs to be properly staffed - just like in all the other units - LOL!

At our hospital we do not float. We are a "closed" unit. That also means we don't get anyone floating to our unit. I'm with you on refusing to float. I have experience in many areas of nursing but I just do not care to work any other area anymore - I've been in OB for the past 6 yrs. I have worked in 6 different hospitals in 3 states in OB (did some travel nursing). Only 2 required L&D nurses to float. I left both of those positions for that reason.