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 NICU neonatal intensive care unit, Planning to switch hospital

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TSlowlowc
post Jan 11 2019, 02:27 PM, updated 6y ago

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Has anyone ever switch their baby from one hospital NICU to another? My baby is in NICU at govt hospital. I can see they are understaffed. Most babies were fed n a rush using syringe and most of the milk just overflowed from their mouth. I ve tried to breastfeed as much as i can but not always succesful because premature baby tends to fall asleep all the time. If nurses saw me therrle, they just assume they dont have to feed my bb later. My baby's weight keep dropping and i m thinking to switch to nearer private hospital.

My baby can have 3 change of diapers per feed, but wheb i voiced concern, they just told me it s normal. The earlier estimated stay at nicu just keep on prolonging. Will govt hospital allow release of baby from their nicu to private hosp?

This post has been edited by lowlowc: Jan 11 2019, 02:30 PM
TSlowlowc
post Jan 11 2019, 06:34 PM

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QUOTE(doczane @ Jan 11 2019, 02:48 PM)
Parents have autonomy over their child’s care, of course u can take him out to another hospital if condition is permitting. If he’s unstable, hospital won’t allow but u can overrule them by signing AOR ( At own risk ) discharge which frees the hospital from any legal liability due to the decision.
Nurses have proper charting of the baby’s feed, they observe or will note you feeding him and they’ll chart it accordingly. So they’ll feed once the next cycle due if u are not around. All has system dear, we are not 3rd world country. But human error can happen, support them and make their life easier as well. Mistrust will cause over cautious and avoidance in their part which could lead to neglect. So loosen up
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I trust that the medical personels are doing their best, but i am unsure about the system. They only feed once every 3 hours without taking into account the baby was fed with formula or breastmilk (mothers will pass milk to nicu but not everyone has enough milk, where formula will be used.) Isn't breastmilk will be digested faster, and babies will get hungry faster?

And i have observe some of the things:

1. If the baby happened to fall asleep during the scheduled feeding time, they will be fed, but try to force down the milk where most of them ended up on the napkin rather than in their stomach. At non-feeding time, baby won't be fed even though they're crying hungry.

2. Few days ago, the parent of the baby next to mine told me, my baby had cried non-stop for 30 minutes the day before (after I went back home). She had to call a nurse to calm my baby down with more feeding. He's hungry, but because it wasn't feeding time, he wasn't fed.

3. Yesterday, I had personally seen the another baby (in same room as mine) cry for 15 minutes without anyone checking on him. I too, have to call a nurse to check on him.

4. The feeding time was 12pm, 3pm, 6pm and go on.. Yesterday I had breastfed him at 12pm. At 2pm, my baby cry for more milk at 2pm. I gave him some, but he fall asleep after only drinking for 5 minutes. When nurse came at 3pm, she asked, and I answered I only managed to fed him for 5 minutes at 2pm. So she said she will skip feeding my baby, but I told her i would prefer her to top up as I really fed him very little. I went out for lunch and nursing, came back 5pm. I was told that since he hasn't woke up, she didn't top up milk for him. Considering he only drank so little at 2pm, he has gone 4 hours without milk before they feed him at 6! If I don't take the 2pm into account, he hasn't drink for 5 hours! So today, my baby's weight dropped by 40g. Sounds like small weight but for a 1.6kg baby, it's a lot.

We are constantly working very hard to make him gain 10g, then he just easily dropped 30, 40g in one day.

I admit that my baby is frequently lethargic and sometimes sleeps through feeding time, but the system failed to be flexible for babies with erratic hungry time.

5. I had witnessed a nurse accidentally knocking my baby's head on the phototheraphy machine. I was shocked and can only pray this only happen once and no permanent damage on him. What if this happens more frequently than I thought?

6. One nurse vs 4-5 babies at one time and they still have other duty to do, than to stay in the same room with the babies. Most of the time, the babies were unattended.

For almost two weeks now, we had been spending 10 hours daily at hospital, but unfortunately I cannot stay there throughout the feeding. I am still post partum and post-csection and I am starting to have dizzy spells and my surgery site hurts. Today is the first day when only my husband go there, insisting I stay at home to get more sleep. But I can't stop worrying. I am trying to find the best decision for my baby.

We had talked with other parents and many of them had easily spent 1 month, 2 months there. I am starting to worry because without the real 'intensive' care, I think it will be long before my baby can gain enough weight to come home with us.

I am also concerned that having breastfeeding him, he had since rejected syringe feeding cause he got used to snuggle with me. We can't stay at the NICU 24 hours to breastfeed him.

This post has been edited by lowlowc: Jan 11 2019, 06:40 PM
TSlowlowc
post Feb 20 2019, 04:38 PM

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QUOTE(powerlinkers @ Jan 11 2019, 09:27 PM)
You are free to AOR discharge your baby at any point. No government hospital doctor can stop unless you have abused your child.

Milk overflow from the mouth will not kill your baby unless they cause aspiration( which I do not think the case here) - Doesn't kill does not means it's okay! If people kicks you with enough pressure to cause pain but not killing you, will you be okay with it?.

If you prefer to feed your baby on your own: you should tell the staff nurse in charge and be a more responsible mother to feed the baby by yourself. - don't you dare call me irresponsible mother. I had c-section and walk the long corridor to NICU to see my baby the moment my I can get off bed despite bleeding. You think after operation and delivery a woman can miraculously healed and function like usual? And right after delivery, kaboom... you will have plenty of breastmilk? And you think premature babies can easily have the stamina to slowly suck to feed? Let me tell you this, most premature babies do not have the stamina to stay awake and feed until they are full. They are just fatigued and keeps falling asleep! The NICU open hours is 12 hours and I am the only mother sitting my baby's side for most of the time. Except for when I need to eat (yeah, irresponsible for me to go and have meals? So where do breastmilk's nutrition come from if I don't eat?!) and NICU close for the night. And oh yeah, I need to go home to sleep because NICU is closed and I am human.

Human breast milk is the best for neonates. If you have cared about your baby: you would have made effort to EBM prior posting. If you are unable to express breast milk, find pumps or seek doctor consultation to increase your breast milk production by taking medication. - What you said were already done, don't need you to remind. But (yeah, flash news for you!) do you know breastfeeding involve baby sucking, which will eat up their energy and cause weight to drop??! Don't tell me it's not true. The doctors admit breastfeeding causes weight drop. I have got to know other NICU momma and all have the same issue. Once EBM, all drop and prolonged the NICU stay. All the mommas just want their babies to go home with them, especially when the condition is that they gain weight to 1.8kg. I finally made a pact with other mommas and we refuse to breastfeed during the scheduled feeding hour (3 hours once) so the nurses will feed them with formula. Then we BF 1.5 hour after that. Sure! The nurses hate us, but we don't care cause this is the way that gets baby to gain weight.

If you go private hospital : it could cost you RM2k-4k/day for stay at NICU.
Insurance will not cover these costs. Nope. My baby's insurance does cover partial. Because I am an irresponsible mother who bought a baby insurance long before he's born.

Not all private hospitals have Neonatologists.

Not all private hospitals follow the protocols set by Ministry of Health fully.
Government hospital staff nurses are good, unfortunately they are burdened with high workload. Some may overworked but does not means you can push milk down the throat of babies. I hope you will experience staying around NICU all day to see how the nurses treat other babies. The baby beside my son was crying very loud with hunger, and I ask the nurse why not give formula to him first? Guess what she said. "No. Serves him right for throwing tantrum!" She decided to feed the other babies first before feeding this baby in a rough way. You try have your baby stay there!

Moreover, do not ever think that private hospitals will deliver a better care for Intensive Care in Malaysia: with exception to certain big hospitals in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Malacca and Johor Bahru: which would charge 2-3x of other private hospitals.

Personally : I would suggest you to meet with pediatrician(specialist) in charge or sister in charge of NICU for your child and voice out your concerns to find a solution. Nope. Making a pact with other mommas works better!

Unfortunately : you have made up your mind that these staff nurses are incompetent , so AOR discharge your child . Find out how the private hospitals would treat your neonate and you will learn a life lesson by the hard way. If you are planning for 8 week stay of your child in a private hospital: be prepared to pay at least RM 110k. BTW, you are talking as if the doctors and nurses at govt hospitals are working as charity, as if they are not taking any salary and employment benefits. There's plenty of other people working in govt sector and private sector underpaid and overworked too. Does it means they should give subpar service?
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If you're a woman, then congrats as your delivery seemed to have been smooth sailing. If you're a man, bless the woman who's going to bear your child, as you clearly lack of empathy. Cause you think every woman and walk, run and no need to rest after delivery. No backpain and breastmilk supply issue will be solved as soon as we consulted lactation specialist etc etc... BTW there's only a few chairs in NICU. We stand most of the time.

QUOTE(Mrs.A @ Jan 12 2019, 05:49 PM)
Please stay strong and consult your Paed. I hope you can find a solution.
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Thank you for your kind words. I have been busy with baby at home. While I was working out getting other NICU, my baby gained weight and was discharged. Together with other babies who were detained for weeks and months, because me and other mommas demanded they feed our baby while we will top up with breastfeeding.

This post has been edited by lowlowc: Feb 20 2019, 04:51 PM

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