Here they have a nursery but they only take bubs off if u need sleep etc they are always tagged before hand and a nurse etc will stay with the bubs for couple of hrs and bring them back to you, only thing i disagree with my hossy is visiting times for fathers as soon as bubs born huuby gets asked to leave, if ur in pain with contractions etc its still only visiting times which is 10am-12pm (partners only) 2pm-4pm and 6pm-8pm they only get called in when ur so close to giving birth and are in labour ward.  i understand ppl wouldnt want strange men etc wandering round hosy but i think when u had baby the father should be able to stay for a couple of hrs at least x

in our hospitals in chelsmford and colchester ur dh/oh can stay with u until 10.30pm from 10.30am! how cool is that and ur kiddies can too....they say its so important for them to be involved

Lou x

I ad my first in july last year and all babies wore alarms, they would activiate this horrific sound if taken past ward reception. There is no way these will come off, think its a good idea! Nice to see NHS doing something right lol

when i had my ds 2 years ago there was a lot of worry about switching/stealing babies etc and we were told never to let baby out of our sight (i'm in suffolk)!! he slept in a plastic cot next to me. i took him to breakfast with me, and even the loo, or if i couldn't i had to make sure the midwife watched him while i went. all babies had 2 identity bands on them - one on their wrist and one on their ankle, just in case one fell off. think it's still the same now!

At my local hosp as long as baby is fine and birth was relatively straightforward you have to keep them with you AT ALL TIMES, even wheeling their little plastic box on wheels thing to the toilet with you!! My friend had a c section, BUT her baby had to go to special care, so not sure if the staff looked after baby purely because it was special care or if they would have done anyway because she had complications herself iyswim.

A lady in the bed opposite me had a c section, she had to ring her bell when she needed help and had her baby with her. Again, don't know if that was her choice or if the option for the staff to care for baby was not there (i'm not much help am I, sorry! )

Hia, a quick question, how long were your oh alowed to stay after when the baby was born? I was in for 3 days after my lo was born on the ward and he only had 2 hours exclusive visiting time, is this normal? 10 - 12 partners, then 4-8 for everyone? I hated that, so exhausting should be the other way around!

I had a section with DD and had my own room. The baby stays with you at all times. I had to buzz in the middle of the night for them to get the baby up for me (which I really hated but had no choice). I ended up bed sharing with dd for a few night because it was easier than calling the MW in (they encouraged this). My DH stayed until around 1030pm and helped the rest of the time. I'm glad there is no nursery though, I too would be scared of getting the wrong baby back!

i live in nottingham and we have two maternity hospitals. i had my daughter in the Queens Medical Centre, and i breastfed for the first few days, so i wasn't offered any formula. then she stopped breathing when she was about 8 months old, and was still drinking formula, and they offered SMA and Cow & Gate.

I'm planning on having this baby at City hospital, so not sure how it'll work there.

i think that staff in hospitals work to high demand and get very stressed out. when i was in labour with my daughter they were all very forceful with me, making me lie on my back in the stirrups, instead of listening to me saying that i was in too much pain to lie on my back. advice everywhere states that the worse place to give birth is on your back, but it makes their lives easier so the push for that. they wouldn't even let me get out of the stirrups when the right side one broke, and i nearly fell off the bed, the consultant just told the midwife to hold it up until the baby was born. 4 days later a friend gave birth in the same room and the stirrup was still broken.

i think everyone can have a very different experience of a hospital really, but so long as you go with what feels right for you, we should all be fine!

rose xx

When i was in hospital for all 3 of mine, baby stays with the mother and even after a c-section emergency or not. In the hospital i had my lo's we were not allowed to leave the room with baby unless with a midwife or baby is pushed about in their crib as it has wheels on. I had all mine by c-section and for the first night the helpers came and fed babies for us we just buzzed for them. Our hospital also provided babies nappies,santary towels, wash towels, cotton wool balls and also the formular for baby. There is a cupboard at the bottom of the crib and it is stocked up with everything for you, you just needed to tell the midwife what brand of formular you needed as they stocked all of it. Each hospital especially in diferent areas tend to run things a bit differently so this is just my experience at the hospital i go to.

I'm not trying to debate, just giving my experience. Probably so diffierent from everyone else's that it is not relevant, but it may be interesting. I often am missing a lot of the background which everyone else takes for granted, and it interests me to understand better. So, now I undestand that there are no nurseries, and only rooming-in. Interesting.

People who take offense, or see the post as critical, it wasn't meant as that at all.

Tamarah

In England it is not the staff that look are 'your' baby, I dont know what the system is if you have a difficult birth and can't deal with ur baby..............but you partners and husbands are allowed at the hospital until nighttime so i guess ur partner would look after baby............I am sure midwifes are more than happy to help where they can but putting babies in a nursery is very old fashioned in this country............this is just going to be another debate thread so u should have put it in debates.

Personally I do not beleive in nurserys I couldnt be hundred % sure that my baby hadn't been swapped over and i certainly dont see how formula feeding is easier for the staff~? they shouldn't have to feed ur baby for u......i am pleaased u stuck to ur guns and fed ur own baby good on u..............

Anyway like i say this is for debates really.

Lou x

This formula thing got me really confused -- who looks after newborn babies in England? They are with their mother all the time? Full time rooming-in? And if the mother is physically unable to look after them -- e.g. after a difficult caesarian?

Hospitals here (Israel) provide formula, and despite their lip-service to BF, they really push formula. When I had my first (9.5 years ago) there was no rooming-in and all babies slept in the nursery. I asked the nurse to wake me to feed him during the night, as we had been promised when we toured the hospital beforehand, and she told me that she was too busy to run after every mother, and I could come in and check on him every couple of hours; if he cried she would give him formula. That is definitely easier for the staff.

With my second son (age 6) rooming in was allowed so he slept with me. Things were also more progressive, but even so, I heard the nurse tell one new mother that her baby was small, and needed formula to put on weight. Then she immediately told me that mine was too big (4.3 Kg) and no way could I satisfy him with breastmilk -- he needed formula. Given that I had successfully fed my first son I ignored her and amazingly enough he survived and thrived. But I think that many new mothers aren't confident in their ability to provide BF, and give up after comments like that.

I'm all for people making a personal choice regarding BF or FF. In my experience the hospitals really push FF, because it is easier on the staff. You need a lot of confidence and will to proceed with BF when it is implied that you won't cope. I respect women deciding to FF for whatever reason. I don't agree with them being pushed into it, by suggestions that BF is too hard and won't work, which is what I see very often.

Anyway, so who does look after the baby in the hospital -- it is with the mother all the time?

Tamarah