DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding you or your baby’s health. Please read my Medical Disclaimer for more info
On Instagram, I stumbled across a mother who was frustrated that the hospital she just had given birth at didn’t tell her they had a nursery where she could send her baby so that they could sleep separately. Did this mom lose a good night’s sleep by rooming-in with her baby after it was born?
I use my words carefully by saying, “so they could sleep separately” because it’s easy to think you would get more sleep if you had your baby kept in the hospital nursery; however, research has shown us that rooming-in results in both mother and baby getting more sleep.
What is Rooming-In?
The goal of rooming-in is to keep mothers and babies together in the hospital after birth. Meaning that checks on the baby and routine screens are done with the baby in the mother’s room. These checks and screenings commonly include routine daily physical exams, vital sign measurements, a hepatitis B shot, a blood draw for the newborn metabolic screen and bilirubin screen, a hearing screen, and a critical congenital heart disease screen.
Nevertheless, if there are ever concerns about the mother or the infant, then appropriate measures are expected to be taken to ensure quality care which may mean the baby needs to go to the Nursery to be assessed and/or watched more closely.
Benefits of Rooming-In
The benefits of rooming-in for mother and baby:
- Both you and your baby better quality of sleep [1,2]
- Baby has more stable body temperatures [2]
- Baby has more stable blood sugar [2]
- Babies are more exposed to normal bacteria on the mother’s skin, which may protect them from becoming sick due to harmful germs [2]
- Baby has lower stress levels [2]
- More likely to be breastfed at any degree at 12 months old [3]
- More likely to be exclusively breastfed at 3 and 6 months old [3]
- Increased confidence in handling and caring for baby [2]
- Learning your baby’s feeding cues [2]
- Ability to learn what your baby’s cues are (sleepy, stressed, in need of quiet time, or hungry) [2]
- Less infant crying and distress [2,4]
- Better weight gain for baby [5]
- Less “baby blues” and postpartum depression for mom [2]
- Decreased rates of babies being abanded in hospitals. The rate of infant abandonment at Maternity Hospital 11 was studied from 1987 to 1998, 6 years before and 6 years after the implemented changes in mother-infant contact. The abandonment rate almost halved when the mothers roomed in with their babies. At the same time, a similar hospital practicing separating mom and baby had a 32% increase in abandonment over the same period of time [6].
When May Someone Need to Use the Nursery?
Outside of a physical or medical emergency, using the nursery to sleep separately may be beneficial if you’re so exhausted that you don’t feel like you can bond with your baby. Or if you just really need a break for a couple of hours to make a positive difference in your mental health.
The Effects of Non-Physiological Birth on Parent-Child Bonding
A physiological birth means a birth with no pain medications or interventions. Such as medical induction of labor or Pitocin used to speed up the labor process.
We don’t know the psychological effects of Pitocin or other interventions regarding the bond between mother and baby yet. However, we do know that when a birthing mother experiences a physiologic birth, she will experience a cocktail of hormones consisting of beta-endorphins, catecholamines, oxytocin, and prolactin.
Beta-Endorphins: Pain-relieving hormones that cause “labor land.” Once in ‘Laborland,’ you are less likely able to recall specific events and only be able to recall an overall feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction based on how you are treated. These are the same hormones responsible for the “runners’ high.” Beta-Endorphins also provide a rush of adrenaline when it comes time to push, similar to catecholamines. Both beta-endorphins and catecholamines are VERY important during the pushing phase.
Catecholamines: stress hormones, fight or flight
Oxytocin: the “love” hormone, calm, and connection
Prolactin: “mothering” hormone because, along with oxytocin, it aids in the bonding between mom and baby, facilitates breastfeeding, and helps baby produce and regulate heat after birth
The effect of these hormones is an alert, eager mama and baby ready to meet each other calmly and begin breastfeeding! Furthermore, oxytocin and prolactin are primarily responsible for causing the mother to want to bond, connect, and care for her baby.
Pitocin (synthetic oxytocin) blocks the release of oxytocin and endorphins during labor and the immediate postpartum period. And catecholamines at the wrong time during labor can block oxytocin. Therefore, feeling safe and comfortable during labor is vital to keep labor progressing effectively.
Conclusion on Rooming-In
It’s important to note that this may not be an openly discussed option for you in a Baby-Friendly Hospital unless there is a medical indication.
At the end of the day, your mental and physical health is crucial to be cared for. Mothers and their families should always be given options with the benefits and risks being discussed.
Sources:
[1] Breast-feeding increases sleep duration of new parents
[2] Rooming-In: Rest is Healing
[4] The Impact of Infant Rooming-In on Maternal Sleep at Night
[5] Rooming-In- No More Nursery Pit Stops!
[6] Effect of the Baby-Friendly Initiative on Infant Abandonment in a Russian Hospital
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