After you have had your baby
If you had your baby in hospital, immediately after the birth you will be made comfortable either in the Birth Centre or Labour Ward. Your baby will be examined by your midwife and two labels will be checked with you before placing them on your baby’s ankles. These labels must stay on during your stay in hospital. After an hour or so, you and your baby will be transferred to the Postnatal Ward or, if you are returning home straight from the Birth Centre, this will be encouraged after 3–6 hours.
If you have a Caesarean section or complicated instrumental birth you will be transferred to the recovery unit for close observation over the first 2–6 hours. When your condition is stable you will be transferred to the Postnatal Ward.
Before you leave
We will:
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Give you a postnatal check to ensure you are recovering well and are safe to leave
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Give your baby a paediatric check, including a hearing screening test
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Give you leaflets, details of follow-up appointments and any medication you may need
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Check if you have any more questions before you leave
You will:
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Need to ensure you know how you are travelling home with your baby, including bringing an appropriate car seat if taking your baby home in your vehicle
If you had your baby at home
If you had your baby at home and there are no complications, you will stay at home. Your midwife will make you comfortable, complete any documentation and give you emergency numbers to call before leaving. Your midwife will return to visit you 8–12 hours later.
Your baby’s check will be done at home or in our Birth Centre within 72 hours of birth. Your baby’s hearing screening test will be arranged as an outpatient appointment.
Registration of your baby’s birth
All babies must be registered with the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages within 42 days of the birth.
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If you are married, either parent may register the baby.
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If you are single, you are responsible for registering the baby. If you are single but you want your partner’s name to appear on the birth certificate, your partner must be present with you at the time of registration.
You will be given more detailed information on where and how to register your baby by a member of our team.
Postnatal Ward
Our Postnatal Ward team cover two shifts, the first shift starting at 7:30am and the second shift starting at 8:30pm.
A midwife will be assigned to you to regularly monitor and review you and your baby’s progress. Our maternity care assistants are also available to assist you with baby feeding, showering and other day-to-day activities.
When you and your baby are ready to leave the hospital, your assigned midwife will arrange for you to be discharged.
Who will be involved in my care?
Midwives
After you have given birth and arrived on the Postnatal Ward, our midwives will carry out your care plan and postnatal checks, provide advice and arrange for you to be discharged from the hospital.
Nurses
Our nurses will provide you with care in theatre and during your recovery on the Postnatal Ward, alongside our midwifery team.
Maternity support workers
Our maternity support workers will help you to learn new skills to care for your baby, under the support and guidance of our midwives.
Medical staff
Our medical staff are available to support you when required. A neonatologist or midwife will also fully examine your baby within the first 24 hours of them being born, before you can leave the hospital.
Neonatal hearing screeners
Our neonatal hearing screens will carry out a first hearing test on your baby before you can leave the hospital.
Nursery nurses
Our nursery nurses will help to support you and look after your baby after birth.
Keep moving
We encourage all women and birthing people, including those who have had caesarean sections, to begin moving as soon as possible to help maintain blood flow and reduce the risk of blood clots.
Meals
We provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks to our women and birthing people. This includes:
Breakfast
Cereals, toast, hot drinks and juices are available. If for any reason you are not mobile, or are breast-feeding, a member of our team can collect your breakfast for you.
Lunch and dinner
You can select a hot meal or a light lunch, which can be eaten at your bedside.
Snacks
We have a range of hot drinks and snacks to choose from which are available from the mobile trolley mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
If your baby is unwell
Transitional care
Transitional care is the term used for the extra support that is provided to babies who are well enough to be cared for at the bedside with their mothers, but who need extra assistance beyond the usual postnatal care.
By looking after your baby this way, it helps to build your relationship with your baby and reduces admissions to our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
You are encouraged to self-care for your baby, with the support from our postnatal team.
Special care baby unit
Sometimes newborn babies can require special care. This can be for a variety of reasons, such as being born early (premature), having an infection, or needing additional support with breathing, feeding and keeping warm.
If your baby needs extra help, they will be looked after in our recently expanded special care baby unit. Our dedicated team of neonatal nurses and consultants will work together to give your newborn the high quality care and treatment they need.
We understand that this will be a worrying time for parents and we will do everything we can to ensure that you receive the information and support that you need, including regular communication and being on hand to answer any questions that you may have.
Feeding and nurturing your baby
We are very proud that we are a Baby Friendly hospital and we have received UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation for our standard of care. This accreditation indicates that we meet best practice standards to support breastfeeding and close parent-infant relationships.
We want to ensure that all parents are enabled to make informed decisions about feeding their babies and are supported and encouraged in their chosen feeding method.
Your antenatal midwife will discuss your thoughts and feelings about looking after and feeding your baby, give you some basic information to help you make informed choices, and get breastfeeding off to a good start.
Antenatal breastfeeding workshops for families at our hospitals can help you feel more confident about breastfeeding your baby and understand how to avoid or solve common breastfeeding problems.
In hospital, staff including midwives, nurses and maternity support workers , will help you learn how to put your baby to your breast, hand express your milk and how to tell if breastfeeding is going well. If you choose to bottle feed, they will teach you how to bottle feed as safely as possible.
Your community midwife will visit you at home or contact you by telephone to assess how well your baby is feeding and support you with any difficulties.
Your health visitor will see you at home after the birth and continue to review your child’s development at a child health clinic. They will give ongoing support with infant feeding, starting solids from six months and going back to work.
Some parents would like additional support with feeding after they have gone home from hospital. You can find out more about breastfeeding, bottle feeding and introducing solid foods here (weaning) here.