Sleep

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

I am super annoyed at the little ways my LDRP unit (I still work prn as an RN even though I am a FT CNM at a M-F clinic) interrupts much-needed sleep for our postpartum moms. Like, we always do baby weight checks between 1-3am, and then we check CBCs (when needed) at 6am so they are ready in case the provider comes in first thing to round. Whenever possible, I have moms ring for me when they are awake in the night, so I can grab their kid for a quick weight without waking them up. But it seems like an easy change, to schedule care/assessments in a way that prioritizes sleep.

How does your unit approach the need for sleep/rest in newly postpartum moms? And even though the hospital where I work as an RN is not "baby-friendly" in the least, we don't staff a well-baby nursery and so we can only babysit for sleeping moms if the unit is not too busy. I *HATE* having to bring a fussy (clean, fed, burped, etc) baby back to a sleep deprived PPD1 mom at 3am because I have a new labor admission And I HATE waking a mom at 2 am so I can weigh her healthy, full term, 2 day old kid, just because that's the time we are supposed to do it.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Any way you can weigh baby earlier or later? When I worked m/b, I would weigh baby somewhere around 2200ish, and that gave me a chance to tuck everyone in for the night. Failing that, can it wait until the 0600 blood draw and get it all done in one fell swoop?

It helps that we had scales for each hall (10-15 rooms per hall) and didn't have to share with too many people.

I was one of those nurses that said, to hell with when we're supposed to do it - assuming it's not something like meds that are time-sensitive. I would just do it whenever worked for the patient and try to cluster care.