Mums ignore advice on sleeping with babies

Warnings that mothers are putting babies' lives at risk by sleeping with them will be ignored as long as hospital staff continue to encourage the practice, says a Rotorua mum.
Rotorua coroner Wallace Bain recently spoke out following several inquests into the deaths of babies who died after sharing beds with parents or siblings. He says there are at least 50 deaths of babies annually in New Zealand which are unnecessary and preventable.
Rotorua mother Jenny Blackburn says the coroner is " beating his head against a brick wall" trying to get the message through to mothers about not sleeping with their babies because they are encouraged by hospital staff to pull unsettled babies into bed with them.
It's a policy Rotorua Hospital says it is now reviewing, following Dr Bain's comments.
Ms Blackburn, who gave birth to her first baby, Olivia, last July, said she was stunned to wake in hospital and find her newborn asleep on her stomach.
Ms Blackburn said at the time she was tired following the long labour and could easily have rolled over and inadvertently pushed the baby from the narrow hospital bed.
"I didn't realise I had slept with her that first afternoon. She was asleep on me when I woke."
She was told a nurse had placed the baby on her stomach.
"I was shocked. I knew it was wrong," she said.
The next day, Ms Blackburn said she was finding it difficult to settle Olivia and a nurse told her to pull baby into bed to settle her.
"She told me just to sleep with her. I was horrified. I didn't like the idea. Not only is it dangerous for baby, it develops bad habits which are hard to break."
Ms Blackburn called her mother, Debbie Blackburn, a former nurse who was also horrified to find staff were telling her daughter to sleep with her baby.
Mrs Blackburn said she rang the maternity nursing manager who told her the hospital had a policy of skin-on-skin contact.
"I couldn't believe it. It has to change. These young mums are getting mixed messages," she said.
They are speaking out following Dr Bain's calls for a national education campaign warning about the dangers of sharing beds with babies.
Ms Blackburn said parents wouldn't listen if a medical professional was telling them the opposite. "He's beating his head against a brick wall. He has to stop hospital staff from telling mothers it is okay to sleep with their baby or they are just going to be confused and do it anyway."
Fourteen mothers spoken to by The Daily Post said they had been told by Rotorua Hospital staff to pull their unsettled babies into bed with them.
Lakes District Health Board communications officer Sue Wilkie said the hospital had operated a skin-on-skin policy since 2005, complying with world Baby Friendly Hospital Initiatives.
However, that policy was being reviewed in light of Dr Bain's comments, she said. Skin contact was only used when mothers were well and under supervision, Mrs Wilkie said.
Clinical Midwife manager Sue Finch said she was concerned to hear women were being told by hospital staff to have their babies sleeping with them.
"The experiences these women are reporting is at odds with the practices that are expected of maternity unit staff," she said.
Dr Bain said he was unable to comment about Rotorua Hospital policies but said evidence showed it was never safe to sleep with a baby or have a baby in bed with others.
FACTS
- The weight of two fingers pressed lightly on a baby's chest can restrict breathing.
- A baby can wriggle under blankets and suffocate.
- A child sleeping with a baby can roll on to and suffocate a baby.
- A baby isn't capable of moving if an adult or child rolls against them or on to them.
- A warm, dry banana box or drawer is safer for baby to sleep in than sharing a bed.