Hospital Sign Tells Parents to 'Look at Your Baby, Not Your Phone'
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The poster has angered parents who say their phones allow them to keep in touch with friends and family during what can be an isolating time in hospital.
I'll bet this is a hot topic and there are definitely pros and cons. What do you think?
As always people have taken no account of the context. At first I was annoyed for parents as I understand the isolation of hospital visits etc phones are literally a lifeline, However it is intended for SCBU during feeding. There is a wealth of evidence that show parental contact- even eye contact whilst feeding helps recovery/progress. It calms babies which has both physiological and psychological benefits to get babies stronger. I am sure staff have communicated this to parents but must feel a reminder of its importance is necessary. I think anything that helps should be welcomed especially if its something parents can do as often they may feel helpless and like they are missing out on bonding, and no parent should feel like this.
You have hit the nail on the head, the headline does take the advice out of context, presumably to sell the story!
I think it is the wording of the sign that is the problem. I spent a lot of time in the hospital with my son. I always looked at my son when I was feeding him, those wee eyes looking up at you was just magical. The advice is that during night feeds, you don't look at them as it encourages them to wake up.
I agree that my phone was a way of keeping in touch with our family, especially as we spent a lot of time in the NICU, but you weren't allowed on your phone in the NICU. I only used my phone when I was in my room or baby was asleep.
Sometimes the benefits are not communicated with you. I wasn't told about the physiological or psychological benefits of looking at my baby whilst feeding them, I knew about them as I had read about them, ironically on my phone whilst baby slept!
I think it is important to make sure parents feel supported and that they know how best to bond with their baby whilst in hospital and when you are in the hospital and you are worried about your baby and you feel isolated seeing a sign like that, with the way it is worded, whilst it has the best intentions, it will upset and anger people and make you feel like you are doing something wrong.
Being a mother myself I can understand that feeling of isolation in hospital. I never felt fully prepared for my baby and truly needed all possible help and contact with the outside world. I'm not sure how I would feel about that sign myself as we are in a different age now. I certainly didn't have a mobile phone back in those days, therefore, couldn't have used it anyway. Also in those days you weren't allowed phones in hospitals!
tumblespots I was definitely not prepared for what happened with our son and it was a massive learning curve for us. We weren't allowed our phones in the NICU and even if we were we wouldn't have used them as we were more concerned with our sons progress and what the drs were telling us.
I think there should be a poster that talks about the benefits for you and baby during feeding. We respond better to positive reinforcements than to negative.
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