Those Baby Shows

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

World BirthDay, A Baby Story, Bringing Home Baby.....what are your thoughts on them?

Love em? Hate em? Why?

This is your chance to rant about the shows or rave on your favorites!

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Loathe them.

Sets up many women with unrealistic expectations. We have semis and privates and its the luck of the draw which you get. But some seem to think its their right to a private.

Who wants everyone's parents and siblings in the labour room with them? I would have died to have my inlaws there.

Reality tv for voyeurs.

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It does seem that they like the bring the entire family in the delivery room...which I do think is a bit weird. When I have kids someday, It'll be me, my husband, and maybe a select female relative or two

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I'm just wondering, do patients refer to them often? I'm not a nurse (pre-nursing student with interest in L&D!) Do you hear, "That's not how they do it on A Baby Story/Birth Day/Bringing Home Baby/etc.." often?

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Loathe them as well.

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Specializes in many.

Can't stand "A Baby Story".

I still like the "World Birth Day" because you get some insight into other cultures.

"Bringing Home Baby" is crap. (IMO)

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Specializes in Neuro/Med-Surg/Oncology.

I think they're cheesy, but still find myself sucked in. It's funny to see how differently everyone does things. I often find myself using them as guide of what not to do as far as labor and delivery. Some of the ideas families have when they get together before the baby's delivered are cute. I think I do want to have a thank you party and just fun get together with family and friends before my baby's born. Sometimes the showers wind up being over-the-top.

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

I love birth day but I have had several children and know the real reality of having babies..lol

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

hate em. they are not educational; they lead people to believe their situations should be just like on Tv. And Maternity Ward is downright depressing. They blow up EVERY case into a life-or-death situation---which might scare would-be parents to death. I am sick of these shows. And I encourage my patients to pass them up when expecting.

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From a doula/CBE perspective :uhoh3:I FRIGGINHATE'EM! :angryfire:uhoh3:

It's an uphill battle and by the time I get them, all the moms are scared to death.:o

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Specializes in NICU.

Loathe them as well, for the most part.

There is one on TLC I believe called "Babies: Special Delivery" that is a bit more realistic. It shows moms and babies having not-so-normal deliveries - complications, prematurity, etc. That one is a little better.

"World Birth Day" is at least interesting because you get to see other cultures and stuff like that.

"Bringing Home Baby" is annoying sometimes. I love the episodes where the parents freak out at night because the baby won't sleep. Isn't that terrible of me? It just bothers me because sometimes I can tell what they did wrong and I want to shout at the screen, "Well if you hadn't woken up the happy sleeping baby, turned on every single light in the house, taken 10 minutes to change one diaper (with two people, mind you), fed the baby and then woke him/her up AGAIN to change the diaper because there was two spots of pee in it, MAYBE the kid would be asleep already!!!" Now, I know first time parents have to learn stuff the hard way, but as a NICU nurse I just spend too much time picking on what they do wrong...

"A Baby Story" is the worst, absolute WORST! I don't know who these people are that they find for this show. They aren't normal, that's for sure! This show gives parents such unrealistic views of pregnancy, delivery, and parenthood. It's like watching the Stepford baby show or something.

The thing that bothers me the most is the ending of each episode. It's a few weeks after the birth, and there the parents are with a perfect sleeping baby. They're always smiling and saying, "Sally here is just the best baby in the whole world. She hardly ever cries and she just has such a laid back personality. Her older brother Charlie just loves her to pieces and kisses her all the time. She has fit right into our family and it's just so wonderful..."

Just once, I'd love to see this instead: "Sally has been to the doctor 8 times in the past 6 weeks. She's got reflux and vomits up most of her feeds. She's really colicky, especially at night, and we haven't slept for more than 2 hours at a time since she was born. Her brother Charlie was potty trained and now he's reverted back to diapers. He tries to bite the baby whenever I'm holding her, and he's just not the same little boy he used to be..."

Needless to say, I haven't watched TLC since the day I found out I was pregnant.

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Specializes in NICU.
It does seem that they like the bring the entire family in the delivery room...which I do think is a bit weird. When I have kids someday, It'll be me, my husband, and maybe a select female relative or two

There was one episode of "A Baby Story" where they not only had EVERY family member present (we're talking brothers-in-law, grandfathers, etc.) but they also had a school-age boy that lived next door because they wanted him to see what childbirth was like!!!

My personal mantra will always be, "If you weren't at the conception, you shouldn't be at the delivery."

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