Should maternity wards limit visiting times?

[tvguy]

Payment/insurance isn't the issue here; it's just the accepted standard of care. It also may vary from province to province; maybe @kimblebee or @CdnCarrie could mention Manitoba; @marcyleecorgan could mention BC and @mombrontrent could tell us about Ontario. My knowledge strictly applies to Alberta.

Yes, and THAT is the exact issue my mom, a Canadian trained RN (before the days of universal healthcare in Canada) had with 24 hours. She felt it was well below the accepted standard of care. As my cousin, also a Canadian RN calls it the "warehouse store" type healthcare Canada has. After 35 years as an RN, she moved to Qatar to work because she was so fed up with the unacceptable care patients were getting in Saskatchewan..

 

[wgeo]

Seems like a tough call. A flexible policy would be nice, but would seem to put a large burden on the nursing staff who probably have more than enough to do already. In my opinion there needs to be some sort of policy/guidelines in place so that if one room gets too out of hand or if a mom really needs help clearing her room the nurses would have something to fall back on - "well our policy is xyz so you gotta go".

I can't begin to remember what the policy was when my kids were born, but I believe my husband spent the night with me for our first kid. Our second kid was born so close to the first, and husband went home that night to take care of the oldest and I remember asking the nurse if they could take my baby so I could get some sleep and I got a little blowback on that because my baby would miss out on "bonding" time with me. I figured going home well rested and recovered was most important.

 

[NAB]

They don’t kick you out of the hospital if you need more care. It isn’t written in stone. I had 2 c sections in Ontario Canada. Stayed 5 days for each because I needed it. Most woman are fine after those 24 hours, 2 days if it is your first to help you out and show you things to care for the baby. My sister had hers natural and was up running around hours after , I was so jealous.

My mom stayed in the hospital a week after having 6 of us. Families were bigger than maybe they needed more rest before going home to other children...lol I was ready to get out and go home.

 

[georgina]

I was so happy to deliver last two my babies in a free standing nurse-midwife center and take them home after 12 hours! So much nicer than the hospital I got stuck in with my first.

 

[MooseBucks]

No. I’m paying the hospital for a service and I’m not sick so why should they get to restrict when or who can visit. If you want them to control that then go to a hospital that restricts it if you dont then don’t.

 

[luvsJack]

Yes, and THAT is the exact issue my mom, a Canadian trained RN (before the days of universal healthcare in Canada) had with 24 hours. She felt it was well below the accepted standard of care. As my cousin, also a Canadian RN calls it the "warehouse store" type healthcare Canada has. After 35 years as an RN, she moved to Qatar to work because she was so fed up with the unacceptable care patients were getting in Saskatchewan..

Dd was born right here in the southern US. She was born Sunday at 1:12 pm and I was discharged the next morning by 10am. Now they said I could stay if I wanted, but I didn’t want.

 

[ronandannette]

No. I’m paying the hospital for a service and I’m not sick so why should they get to restrict when or who can visit. If you want them to control that then go to a hospital that restricts it if you dont then don’t.

Weird reasoning. Practically everything one purchases, whether goods or services, comes with terms and conditions set by the seller.

 

[MooseBucks]

Weird reasoning. Practically everything one purchases, whether goods or services, comes with terms and conditions set by the seller.

Exactly, so pick the “seller” aka hospital that fits your needs

 

[Disney Doll]

In my opinion I think it's really weird for a place I'm paying to go tell me when I can and cannot have visitors. I've had 3 kids at 3 different hospitals and none of them really had specific "visiting hours." I mean I'm not in a jail and if I can't be voiceful enough to tell ppl. that it's not a good time etc. when I'm in the hospital, what on earth am I going to do at home. What was way more of a nuisance than visitors wasthe constant in and out of the nurses pricking and prodding at all hours of the day/night.

I could see how all that pricking and prodding to make sure you didn’t have a post-delivery complication could be SOOO annoying. Those darn nuisance nurses.

 

[paisleys]

They should 100% limit visiting hours in shared rooms. One mom’s need to rest comes before the other mom’s desire for her cousins, coworkers, etc, to see the baby. Outside of that, I’m a fan of quiet hours. Keep it down so you’re not disturbing others, or you’ll be asked to leave. It’s a hospital, not a sorority social. If you want that many people around you, have a home birth.

To be fair, I’m a private person- my husband was the only one other than medical staff in the delivery room. All of our long distance family was told we wouldn’t entertain house guests for two weeks after birth, which worked wonderfully for us.

This is me too! I had a C section and was in for a few days. I felt and looked awful the whole time. I got wind that my coworkers were planning to visit and shut that down pretty quick. It was nice of them but no way did I want to see anyone in that condition (plus most of the time I was falling asleep while sitting up). I only had a (perfect) roommate on my last day/night and she was also quiet and only had her husband visiting. I wouldn't have felt comfortable with a bunch of strangers in and out all day and night. I don't understand why people can't wait to visit until the baby is home?

 

[DisLiss]

I think the extended hours are fine. Some moms really feel like they need the support of as many of their loved ones as possible.

Mind you, I asked the vast majority of people NOT to come visit while we were in the hospital, so it's not like it really mattered to me. I had 4 visitors (2 who came twice, plus 2 who came once) over 4 days with my first and 2 visitors over 3 days with my second. And that was all I cared to have. I'd rather visit with folks when I'm not in a hospital setting.

Also I never was aware of any noise from visitors. It's a maternity ward....the noises I heard were crying babies and laboring mothers.

And the nurses both times were very discreet about finding out from mom how much was enough with visitors and then shooing them away if need be.


Now, the rooming in I'm all for. I was waking up at all hours any way...what with the crying babies and laboring mothers and all the others and dings and beeps of a hospital setting. So it didn't much matter. I slept way better once I got home, even with all of the nightly feedings and changings.

 

[DopeyDame]

It seems like maybe the restirction should be on the *number* of visitors, rather than the time. That would cut down on huge loud parties.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I'm really confused as to why you quoted me. I'm a woman who has delivered and raised 3 kids and it seems we agree that me as the mother/patient can determine and voice when we want to be left alone and that we don't need a hospital to determine that for us...perhaps you quoted the wrong post???

I was trying to figure out why you were quoted, too. Her post makes no sense. It has absolutely nothing to do with what you posted lol.

 

[luvsJack]

I am a little surprised at how many of you have mentioned all the noises from other rooms and such. The hospital I had all three of mine in is very quiet. All rooms are private rooms. The labor and delivery room is in one area and after the baby goes to the nursery, they take you to your room.

With my boys it was 3 different rooms, labor room, delivery room and then my actual room. With Dd, just two. I hardly even saw another Mom, much less heard anyone.

Baby rooming in wasn’t an option with the boys and with Dd, dh had to go home to get the boys off to school this next morning so they wouldn’t leave her with me. But as soon as I was up at daylight, they brought her back to me. I asked the first nurse that I saw and she went and got her.

 

[mjkacmom]

I am a little surprised at how many of you have mentioned all the noises from other rooms and such. The hospital I had all three of mine in is very quiet. All rooms are private rooms. The labor and delivery room is in one area and after the baby goes to the nursery, they take you to your room.

With my boys it was 3 different rooms, labor room, delivery room and then my actual room. With Dd, just two. I hardly even saw another Mom, much less heard anyone.

Baby rooming in wasn’t an option with the boys and with Dd, dh had to go home to get the boys off to school this next morning so they wouldn’t leave her with me. But as soon as I was up at daylight, they brought her back to me. I asked the first nurse that I saw and she went and got her.

At the hospital where I delivered, I could go to the nursery to get my baby, or bring it back. They were brought to me at night for feedings even though DH wasn’t there. The worst was a morning they brought my twins to me and said “they’re both really hungry!” They had a lot of births that day.

 

[aprilgail]

At my hospital, the maternity ward has open visiting hours from 9am-9pm. Of course our patients have many, many visitors because everyone wants to see the new baby. We do have a two-hour window of time in the afternoon called “quiet hours” where we try not to disturb them so that they can take a nap, in preparation for the all night feeding frenzies that happen with newborns. But people are still allowed to visit, so most of the patients don’t get to take advantage of this nap time.

Years ago, we limited visitors and it seemed as if our patients were able to take little cat naps during the day because of this. But with 24-hour rooming in and exclusive breastfeeding, plus the all day long open visiting policy, our patients rarely get a break anymore.

Interested to hear different experiences and opinions from around the country (and world ).

I would have LOVED limiting the visiting hours when I was in there- and it wasn't even for ME- we have double rooms here and my roommates husband would come at 9am and not go home until 9pm- I have NO break all day long- as soon as he got there they would but on Jazz music so "the baby will like jazz"- and then to boot she was a breastfeeder so at 2am the tv would come on and stay on the whole time she breastfed. Grandparents were also allowed up 9am-9pm so her mom would come most of that time too. The bathroom was on her side of the room so I would have to take my c-sectioned body up and walk past them the get to the bathroom. Oh and the best part the hospital had like a shower in a gym- just some stalls and small curtains- I went in to take a shower and a woman came in WITH her husband to take a shower (she claimed she needed help)- I was already in the shower so I was not getting out to complain but another woman came in to shower and went out and got the nurse to get him out of there. I couldn't wait to go home- I was exhausted- couldn't nap at all during the day with all the noise and activity going on on the other side of my room. Oh and I didn't even have my baby the entire time with me since she was in NICU.

 

[wgeo]

I am a little surprised at how many of you have mentioned all the noises from other rooms and such. The hospital I had all three of mine in is very quiet. All rooms are private rooms. The labor and delivery room is in one area and after the baby goes to the nursery, they take you to your room.

With my boys it was 3 different rooms, labor room, delivery room and then my actual room. With Dd, just two. I hardly even saw another Mom, much less heard anyone.

Baby rooming in wasn’t an option with the boys and with Dd, dh had to go home to get the boys off to school this next morning so they wouldn’t leave her with me. But as soon as I was up at daylight, they brought her back to me. I asked the first nurse that I saw and she went and got her.

I had the same room for labor delivery and after. My sons labor/delivery was long and went haywire at the end. They kept paging so many specialists into the room, and it was a teaching hospital so everytime someone came they always had a student with them. Within 5 mins it went from about 6 of us in the room to over 30 people. It was very loud and chaotic (or so it seemed to me). I can only imagine if a mother in the next room was trying to sleep with her newborn while everyone in my room was either arguing about what should be done, or using it as a "teachable moment" and loudly yapping at their particular student. It all ended very quickly and within minutes most people left but it could not have been peaceful or quiet for those around me.

 

[hereyago]

Where I had my DD in 98, they had the beautiful birthing room, then after giving birth you moved to a small private room. I had an unplanned c section and complications from it and stayed longer then 24 hours. It seemed

When DD had her DD in 15, different hospital. Small birth room and she was moved to another part of building because they were actually renovating.
Her birthing room was just a small private room that had her, myself, her Dr., a nurse from the NICU and a regular pediatric nurse.
Luckily, baby came out fine.

 

[Searc]

They don’t kick you out of the hospital if you need more care. It isn’t written in stone. I had 2 c sections in Ontario Canada. Stayed 5 days for each because I needed it. Most woman are fine after those 24 hours, 2 days if it is your first to help you out and show you things to care for the baby. My sister had hers natural and was up running around hours after , I was so jealous.

My mom stayed in the hospital a week after having 6 of us. Families were bigger than maybe they needed more rest before going home to other children...lol I was ready to get out and go home.

What was different then, at least in the US, was insurance wasn't making medical decisions for women. Insurance typically only pays for 24-36 hour hospital stays after birth now, if the birth is "normal".

 

[Searc]

Exactly, so pick the “seller” aka hospital that fits your needs

It's cute that people think women have a laundry list of hospitals to choose from when giving birth. Location and most importantly, insurance, severely limit the options most of us have available.