Читать книгу Sister Lilian’s Babycare Companion: Complimentary and traditional care - Lilian Paramor - Страница 53

Choosing the clinic or facility you give birth in is important to ensure a good start not only a physically, but also emotionally. An international initiative, called ‘baby-friendly hospitals’ exists. Unfortunately too few facilities even attempt to put any of the internationally recognised standards required of baby-friendly hospitals into practice, although this is constantly improving. This initiative comprises quite a number of principles aimed at more gently welcoming babies, improving emotional care of hospitalised infants and children, and not sticking to rules too rigidly in the physical routines that form the basis of childcare.

Rooming-in is a cornerstone of this initiative. This concept is often not thoroughly understood by either parents or hospital staff. It is often interpreted as meaning that Baby spends the first night of his life in the nursery and sometime next day is placed in a crib with Mom in the room. Others think it means that days are with Mom, nights with other babies in the nursery. What rooming-in actually means is that babies should not be separated from their mothers at all from the moment of birth, except for brief times when mom needs to wash, or if Baby is in need of intensive medical care in a special unit. Close body contact should be encouraged and routine tasks like weighing, measuring and bathing regarded as insignificant to the moment. If Mom is struggling with overwhelming tiredness in the first few days, Baby should preferably be cared for by Dad or a close family member while Mom sleeps, and when feeding is needed, this person should help Mom and Baby.

The beauty of rooming-in is that it allows mothers to familiarise themselves with every nuance of their babies’ behaviour, so that going home is less of a shock. Babies are also more settled when not being wrenched away from the one they know best. It is also the only sure way of knowing that no procedures or feeds are occurring without your full consent. By the time you go home you already feel more skilled in handling Baby, and that is both empowering and comforting.