There’s a lot of debate in the United States about where a baby should be. Should they be in a traditional nursery in the hospital or should they always be at the bedside or is there a combination of one or both of those things that needs to happen after your baby’s born? We know that babies who stay with their mothers after birth the entire time actually got a little bit more sleep than babies that live in a nursery. So if you’re concerned about sleeping and if you’re concerned that your baby’s not going to lie to sleep that first night, we find the evidence on that is contrary. If your baby’s with you in your room, you’re going to sleep more and your baby’s going to sleep more. We know that a baby that stays with its mother, particularly skin to skin, where you’re really staying close to your baby nurses more frequently.
And those babies have a better nursing relationship with their moms. When they leave the hospital, moms get to know their babies really well when they’re close to them. And every time you may be gives you a feeding cue, which may be something really minor and you latch your baby on those babies are going to have more frequent feedings going to keep their weight more stable and are going to be better. Nursers by the time you go home, they’ve had more practice. There are mothers who are exhausted, and there are times when you may want the nurses in the hospital to care for your baby. When you absolutely cannot do that yourself. And one of those instances may be, if you had general anesthesia, meaning you were put to sleep for a Syrian section, you’re still waking up. You can’t care for your baby. And if you don’t have anybody with you is going to sit there.
Your baby may go to a nursery. Sometimes you can request it. It’s perfectly okay to say I need some time and I need to be able to sleep for just a little while and trust your baby to the nurses in the hospital. It’s okay to do that. It’s important to have discussions with the nursery nurses, if it’s very important to you, that you have a successful breastfeeding relationship to not do things that set that relationship up to fail. And one of those things is to ask the nursery nurses to please not use a pacifier or use formula on your baby while you’re sleeping, but to please bring your baby back when it’s time to eat again. And that will ensure that you get your rest, but you’re still protecting your breastfeeding relationship.
