well baby nursery RNs...

nolaRN · Mar 17, 2007

Thank you everyone for the input! I have officially submitted my transfer application. :wink2:

zahryia, LPN · Mar 18, 2007

I'm with SBE.. we also don't have a well-baby nursery and frankly I would be bummed if we did. Nothing against well-baby nursery nurses!
If a mom needs us to take the baby for a while we do it. But, overall we do not find this necessary. And it is not supported by the literature (for maternal rest or other reasons). Our moms get plenty of rest (ummm, most newborns sleep most of the time KWIM?!)... and if moms don't - it's because they are allowing too many people to visit them, not because of the baby.
We do everything in parent's room as far as baby goes, no special setup needed, just regular rooms, and it's fine. Well, it's better than fine :) (Actually it's probably *easier* come to think of it, no shuffling babies around back and forth- that would probably take more time!). It's all very valuable teaching time for parents and everyone is usually really into it!! Pictures, questions, etc.
I strongly feel that the best place for healthy new babies and mommies is with their new family :) In most cases, the whole time. I didn't even realize that that many places still separated moms and babies for that stuff! Wah!
On the other hand, if we have to do anything not routine, like getting a baby IV or whatever, the nurses generally take baby to the nursery and they are (I think) bad about not letting family in for that stuff (like a 180 from our regular routine above!). I think they are too strict about not letting family in the nursery, and that is not supported by the literature either (denying family presence for procedures or whatever).

Totally agree with you and SmilingBluEyes.

Jme2007 · Mar 18, 2007

I am new to the nursery for 2 months now and our nursery is small and can accomodate up to 8 babies as we only staff with 1 nurse at a time. When I was hired, I was oriented that it was a "family oriented" hospital and that they encourage bonding, skin to skin immediately after birth, and breastfeeding (if the mom wishes). I was oriented days and the day nurses do encourage this but when I went to nights, different story. They dont advocate for their patients, but themselves IMHO. If they bring a baby to me so mom can get her rest, I call them and say, "baby is due to breastfeed", and 99% of the time their reply is, "mom says its okay to give bottle". If this happened more seldomly, I would think that they are encouraging breastfeeding but this is not the case. Also, if they get the babies in the nursery by Midnight, the post-partum nurses don't have to do the assessments in the middle of the night. So I think this is why they dont encourage "rooming-in". And yes, I have been met with resistance from the post-partum nurses because I am trying to follow what I was taught and trying to represent the hospital to the best of my abilities. I am one versus many. What to do? :deadhorse