Taking Your Baby Home

The joy of taking your child home can be offset by many challenges. Several years ago, to minimize costs, health insurance companies began limiting the hospital stay for new infants and mothers to less than 24 hours. Although studies have differed in their findings on how these "drive-through deliveries" affect patient health, legislation has been passed prohibiting this practice.

Nevertheless, families should not expect to be in the hospital for more than a couple of days. Most hospitals have developed sensible criteria for discharge. Criteria for the baby would include, for instance, full-term healthy baby, normal exams, normal lab values, and sufficient parent skills and confidence to care for the parent.

While early discharge unquestionably causes problems for some infants and is frustrating for many parents, it remains an option. If you feel that you would like to leave early, discuss this with your physician. Although there are better places to be than a hospital, the support provided by maternity care nurses is a valuable service.

With the advent of earlier discharges, we have seen a disturbing number of emergency room visits. Not because of more health problems but because of the greater parental anxiety that comes with having had less time learning how to look after their infant before going home.

If you leave the hospital early, inquire about home nursing visits. Many hospitals and health plans offer such visits. They save money for you and your health plan while providing valuable services. Following are some of the things you should prepare for when leaving the hospital.

In the hospital, paperwork must be completed. Generally the father attends to this, but many hospitals now have someone from the financial office drop by the hospital room so that the mother can make the arrangements herself

Most hospitals permits unlimited visiting by fathers, but young children are usually not allowed on maternity wards. The mother is usually provided with a wheelchair when leaving the maternity ward (like it or not) and generally is not allowed to have contact with her older children.

Although there are many compelling arguments against these rules, your hospital may enforce them, and you should be prepared to deal with their effects on your other children.

Many hospitals provide a package of goodies for the parent to take home for their new child. These goodies are supplied by the companies making the products and not by the hospital or your doctor. They are advertising samples.

Some of them may be useful, but many are not. Although they are free, they can cost you money inn the long run and get you started on some bad habits. A typical package will include the following:

Infant formula: this is very often a prepared liquid or liquid concentrate and is fine if fine if you're going to bottle-feed. These are handy and have a long shelf life. If you do choose to use it, remember that powdered formulas are more economical than liquid.

Check at your local supermarket to see which is most cost-efficient. There are no clinically significant differences between the major commercial products now on the market.

Lotions, creams and oils: use these on yourself if you wish, but most infants do not need such preparations. It is not recommended the routine use of any skin preparation for children

Powders: these have been used for centuries to keep babies dry, but the best way to dry a baby's bottom is to dry it. As soon as the child urinates, the effect of the powder is gone. Powders do help dry the perspiration that occurs underneath a warm diaper.

If you choose to powder your child's bottom, place the powder in your hand and then place it on the child's bottom. Shaking powder from a distance will spread a cloud of dust and the baby can inhale it. Powders containing talc have been cited as a course of serious lung disease. Use these powder cautiously or avoid them.

Cotton-tipped swabs: these can be used to clean a newborn's umbilical stump with alcohol, but should never be used to clean inside of children's ears. Wax is produced within the ear canal for a purpose. It usually becomes a problem only when it's pushed into the ear canal with a swab. Never put anything smaller than your elbow in a child's ear

Vitamins: all infant formulas are supplemented with the vitamins needed for your child's proper growth and development. Infant's who are breast-fed need only vitamin D supplement