99 Posts
here the baby is placed on mom chest ASAP, often before cutting the cord, weighing, and so on. The baby is allowed to show interst in nursing before being given the breast.. ie we watch for rooting.
of couse this is assuming mom and baby are doing fine.
Dads are expected to coach.
I also watched the discovery show .. neat wasn't it ... I really felt for the indian man running about fighting red tape when all he wanted was to be allowed to help his wife... the dolphins were a bit "out there" though .. lol
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940 Posts
Originally posted by SmilingBluEyeswhere i work if the baby is healthy, he/she goes immediately on mom's chest for bonding .meds/bath are on hold til bonding and breastfeeding (if chosen) are initiated. Only time we "whisk a baby away" is if the baby is sick and needs immediate medical attention and /or special care.
wish we always did that here! do they need any L&D nurses there?:)
1,437 Posts
Our birthing center sounds much like SBE's. We may take the baby to the stabilet for a bit of stimulation or blowby if needed, but then right back to mom. Weights and meds are definitely not priorities over bonding and breastfeeding. Even meconium babies spend the minimal amount of time with peds needed to assess then...back to mom. Those first few minutes are so important for bonding. It is a shame to take that time away from mother and baby for those things that can easily wait.
335 Posts
I missed the show unfortunately, I would have liked to see it.
I'm actually from Russia and they never used to do anything like what goes on in the US. I don't absolutely agree with it, but in some cases it's great to have interventions.
I still have to say that medical care is much better here in US than there. While the russian people are more lenient towards herbal remedies, breastfeeding, natural birth, late immunizations, etc., the rates of infant mortality are great.
My sister and I both delivered at 36 weeks. My son was healthy (born here), her son ended up in a neonatal institute ( in moscow) with brain hemorrage and hemolitic desease for 2 months.
Medical ethics over there are also hard to compare. They will perform an abortion just about at any atage. probably close to 7 months.
sorry to get off topic. but yes, over there they do not do anything special to the babies. Unfortunately, in the past 10 years breast feeding rates went from 100% to 30 %, at least in my home city.
We also have birthing hospitals ( which makes total sense to me), instead of having a unit in the general hospital. I'm not really germophobic, but the thought of delivering my baby in the same building where SARS patients are coming to is not very exciting.
1,326 Posts
Hi everyone, thanks for your responses,
Ana, your observations of the scenario in Russia are quite interesting. The young woman and husband from Russia did indeed decide on an abortion when she found out she was pregnant, because they could not afford a child. She had the abortion but found out a few weeks after that it did not work, she was still pregnant and then they decided that they would keep the child.
She had her choice of Maternity Hospitals named #1, #2, #3, #4 or #5 to go to for the birth.
The one thing that I could not keep from noticing in each of the countries was the environment of the hospitals. Cold tiled walls and floors, rickety old metal beds that are probably from the 1930's, no private rooms, and very meager medical technology ie. outdated sonogram machines and computers.
The poor woman from Africa who went through the whole delivery process with no one else except for one nurse/doctor (not sure which it was) was wheeled into the hallway and left there for a while after the birth.
Really made me feel grateful to be in the US.
99 Posts
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173 Posts
Depending on how the infant is doing we will place the baby on mom's chest even before the cord is cut. When I am the nursery nurse doing babies for the night I will observe the baby on mom initally (as long as there is no mec fluid) If I notice anything wrong with baby or think it needs some fluid I will take the baby to the stabilette. We have a NICU team that comes to any delivery that we anticipate a problem (mec fluid, fetal distress, vacuum assists, prolonged rupture, premature....) If they are there the infant will immediately go to the sabilette. Once we decide they are O.k. we will give the infant to mom to see for a little before finishing everything else.
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In the unit in which I worked as soon as baby comes, she is put up on moms chest before the cord is cut. Dad or the coach can cut the cord, the nurse dries baby off while on moms chest. If baby is not well it is immediately taken to the warmer and given oxygen, etc. If baby is well it stays with mom for a few minutes then we take the baby to the warmer to get dried off and put in clean blankets. As long as all is well, we give the baby back to mom and breast feeding is initiated. Mom and baby stay in the DR for about an hour after birth and then mom goes to her room and baby to the nursery. Bath, meds and everything else is done there.
fergus51
6,620 Posts
It depends on the facility, the doctor, the nurse, the family and the baby. I always asked what their preference was before the birth. If the babe is healthy and mom wants it right away, we stick baby on her chest on top of a towel and dry him/her off right there. Other moms want the baby cleaned up first.