Do Irish Hospitals Support Rooming In?

national | consumer issues | opinion/analysis Wednesday August 08, 2007 13:41 by Emer McGann - AIMS Ireland emer at aimsireland dot com

Rooming in’ involves the care of a newborn infant in a cot near the mother’s bed instead of in a nursery during their hospital stay. This has very many positive advantages for the mother and baby in terms of bonding and getting to know the new baby’s routine in the early days of its life and also the instant availability of the mother for feeding, a recognised bonding time be it bottle or breast. Rooming in also has many advantages for maternity hospitals in terms reduction in requirements for nursery spaces in hospitals and therefore, reduction in numbers of staff required to supervise the nurseries and take care of the infants. Most Irish maternity hospitals operate a full rooming in policy but the question is - Do Irish Maternity Hospitals support rooming in?

AIMs Ireland conducted an online poll to find out what matters to Irish women in terms of maternity care. 15% of women listed lack of postnatal support as their main concern in the Irish maternity services.

In their replies, women with traumatic deliveries and C sections, who were physically restricted by complications following the birth and often under the influence of morphine and other drugs administered post surgery described how they were left alone to look after their own and their infant’s needs. These women spoke of their distress at being physically incapable of taking care of their infant and how this lack of post-natal support affected them mentally; increasing anxiety, and promoting feelings of loneliness and failure that often had a lasting impact on them.

Women in wards mentioned how they and neighbouring patients would often take care of each others infants in order to use the toilet or take a shower. Restrictive visiting policies put in place in maternity hospitals for security reasons mean that even family support is unavailable to these women outside of visiting hours. However, to expect new mothers to rely on the character of absolute strangers in the bed next to them in the absence of sufficient staff coverage hardly represents a comprehensive security policy. There are potentially serious health and safety implications from lack of support for rooming in mothers in maternity hospitals and currently these are not being addressed.

Putting in place a rooming in policy in a hospital without providing the necessary support to women does not achieve the benefits of successful rooming in. Bonding is not enhanced between a stressed out mother, who is in physical pain, and her child. Maternity hospitals need to look at whether they are putting in place a rooming in policy for its mother-baby benefits, or for benefits to the balance sheet, it is not the same thing and it certainly does not represent the mother friendly-women centred care that Irish hospitals wish to achieve.

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