When a baby is born....what does your hospital do?

[DutchgirlRN]

I was at a sister hospital in Nashville this week attending a class. I was sitting in the cafeteria having lunch and heard a little baby giggle and then about 30 seconds of Brahms Lullaby. I heard it several times during the week. I asked someone sitting near me, what's up with that? and they said that is played everytime a baby is born. I thought that is so sweet. I'm going to suggest this to my hospital. My daughter is due in 7 weeks and I think it's a super idea! Does your hospital do anything special when a baby is born?

[matchstickxx]

We started playing a snippet of the Lullaby a few months ago. It is not as disruptive as I feard it would be. It cannot be heard in the patient rooms and is played at a low volume in the public areas. So far, we haven't had any complaints. We had a term IUFD a few weeks ago who asked if it would be played when she delivered. She knew about the lullaby from a hospital tour she had taken. We normally wouldn't, but instead of just saying that we wouldn't, her nurse told her we would do whatever she wanted. The patient did want it played. She she said she wanted something to acknowlege the life her unborn baby did have.

I have learned that moms are all very different in how they mourn and we just try to accommodate them where we can.

[chip193]

During the day and evening, they play Braham's Lullaby. Working nights, I never get to hear it!

It's a great idea as it brings a smile to just about everyone in the place.

Chip

[Cotronix]

Our hospital does this. These systems are available at Cotronix.

[LDRNMOMMY, BSN, RN]

Our hospital plays Brahm's lullaby. It is not audible in patient rooms only in the hallways. When it is played for patients their door has to be opened for them to hear it. We have to call the hospital information desk for it to play. So it is not done consistently. If we have a patient that is on the floor for an IUFD we will not play it for anyone out of respect. It was played for us when I delivered my son a little less than 2 months ago.

[SmilingBluEyes]

I disagree that PP or MB is not where ladies losing pregnancies/babies belong; I think PP is exactly where women who have experienced demise or loss do belong. I was put in a GYN surgical ward and not one person knew how to handle me or my loss. Only ONE nurse knew to say she was sorry and even acknowledge I had experienced a loss. I could have better handled babies crying than being treated as just another surgical patient in a double room with a lady who had had a hysterectomy,and interestingly, showed more compassion for me than did the staff. I felt they avoided me as much as possible except to give me pain meds or change my IV bags. They were obviously uncomfortable.

OB nurses KNOW how to care for women losing pregnancies/babies. Not always so in other units.

As for Brahm's lullaby, I have worked some places where it was done, others not. I liked it and so, interestingly, did our sick and very elderly patients on other units. It was somehow life-affirming for them!

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

One of the hospitals where I did clinicals in nursing school played Brahms' lullaby for births. Where I am currently we don't do anything, which I hadn't really thought about 'til now, but it would be nice to do something.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Yes, our hospital plays Brahm's too. They don't play it between 2100 and 0700, though. So a 0700, they will play it for all the births that happened overnight. Sometimes you'll hear it 2 or 3 times in a row, and people always think it's twins.

[crissrn27, RN]

I had an 18 week IUFD of my little girl in Oct of last year and I have to say I wouldn't have minded hearing the lullaby. I never went through that intense anger though (or at least haven't yet), so don't know how I would have felt if I was in the midst of that. I was very sad, very much in grief, and I was in the regular L and D unit and heard babies being born all night. I was so relieved that those women had health babies and wished I could have too, but not upset or angry that a baby had been born. So don't think it would have bothered me.

[SchiwartRN]

Our hospital plays Braham's Lullaby whenever a baby is born...the mom's and their families love it. It plays throughout the whole hospital.

[jennf83]

We play a lullaby to everytime a baby is born unless we have a mom that lost a baby on our floor or if our fetal loss group is meeting, then we dont play it. Parents seem to really enjoy their baby's lullaby they hear.