My Care During Pregnancy and Beyond

Every unit in the country has some degree of special care available, either having a Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) or a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or both.

All units encourage skin-to-skin contact (touching, stroking) and kangaroo care (putting baby chest-to-chest with you). There may be medical policies where this is limited depending on the baby's condition.

There are no restrictions on visiting for parents of the baby.

Below is a list of visiting arrangements for other family members which varies from unit to unit.

SCBU

NICU

Half of the units have a room where mother/parents can stay. Some units can accommodate mothers/parents only in special circumstances.

Only one unit has hot food available 24 hours per day in the restaurant. The vast majority of units have hot food available at limited times in the hospital restaurant.

8 units reported that baby-led feeding (the baby is fed when they show signs of hunger - hands up to mouth, lip smacking, rooting, eventually crying) is practiced. 11 more units stated it was decided on an individual basis and 1 unit said it was not practiced.

Donated breastmilk can be used in 15 units. Where breastmilk is not being used, or sometimes in addition to breastmilk, formula milk is provided and in certain cases specialised formula milk.

For premature babies, expressed breastmilk can have fortifier added. Babies can be fed in a variety of ways depending on their needs/condition. In addition to breastfeeding the following methods can be used to give babies expressed breastmilk, fortified expressed breastmilk or formula food; by bottle, cup feed, nasogastric tube, syringe, orogastric and IV fluids. Most (75%) units stated they always seek consent from parents for the type of feed and the method of feeding, with one (5%) unit each responding 'mostly', 'sometimes' 'rarely'.

Is baby-led feeding practiced?

The vast majority of units stated that they provide additional support to mothers of twins or more.

Generally staff encourage parents to be very involved in their baby's care. There are often multidisciplinary teams, sometimes including chaplains, to provide extra support if needed. In addition most units provide a range of information leaflets including those about support organisations and those written by support organisations.

This varies with most units providing a good level of support in certain areas (e.g. training in hand expression and in the use of pumps, storage facilities for breastmilk etc.). However not every unit provides a quiet, comfortable room to express in.

Less than a third of units support mothers through free or subsidised meals or the loan of a pump for home use. Lack of such supports could create additional expense and stress for mothers who need to be well supported in order to be able to provide the optimum food for their babies in special care.

The following is the range of practical supports offered:

Open visiting for parents still applies. Additional help is available for breastfeeding and expressing breastmilk (loan of pump (in some instances), room to express, access to lactation consultant, breastmilk storage). Parents are encouraged to be very involved in their baby's care. Support from special care/neonatal staff is ongoing and you may also be offered support from the pastoral care worker, social services and or your local Public Health Nurse.