Back To The Baby Ward - Part Three.

Hari's feeding problems were worse than before whilst she was recovering.



She was generally reluctant to feed and would only take part of each feed.



The system in use on the ward was to spoon feed the rest of the feed once the baby stopped drinking from the bottle.



The problem with this was that Hari would immediately spit out any milk that was spooned into her mouth - so she was not actually getting the amount of milk that she needed.



This was complicated by the fact that the nurses would write the full amount on the feed chart - leading to the illusion that Hari had been fed sufficient milk.



I requested that the nurses should include on the feed chart how much milk Hari had taken from the bottle and how much she had been fed by spoon - at least that way we would have an idea of how much she was actually swallowing.



This request was frowned upon - but I stood my ground and they did eventually agree to record her feeds in this way.



I should mention that I was able to get more success with getting Hari to feed than the nurses did.



So it came as a bit of a surprise to be told that 'they' had held a meeting and decided that once we went home it was being arranged for care assistants to come to the house, three or four times a day, in order to feed Hari.



Now I saw some problems with this - not least that 'they' had had the cheek to hold a meeting without informing or including me - and to make such decisions without consulting me at all!



I pointed out that I was having more success than the nurses in feeding Hari but was told that I had to accept this intrusion in our lives.



I also pointed out that there would be times when we would not be home when Hari's feeds were due - especially as she was on three hourly feeds - and that I would need to feed her wherever we were. I was told that I would HAVE to be home for all her feeds - which(taking winding and changing into account) would limit us to being away from home for no more than two to two and a half hours at any one time.



So - I was being banned from feeding my own baby during the day even though I was the only one who had so far been able to get her to drink a reasonable amount!



I told them I would think about it and agreed for these care assistants to come and meet us at the hospital.



I really wasn't happy about the intrusive and restrictive nature of this whole plan and decided to speak to our GP about it.



I phoned the surgery and spoke to Annette Bradley. I explained the problems with this plan and asked if she could speak to the hospital and persuade them to drop the plan.



She responded by telling me to pretend to go along with it and then once we were home to refuse to accept it. She suggested that when these women arrived at our home I should just say 'no thank you' and shut the door again!



Now I really didn't think this was the best way to deal with things so I decided to let the hospital know, before Hari was discharged, that I didn't agree with their plan and would not accept it.



They were not amused!



TOUGH!!!!!!!!!