Follow up on Swedish policy re: h1n1

LD&Me

I saw a post the other day from someone who heard at her Swedish Childbirth Class that if you have a fever during labor they aren't letting you room in, breastfeed, etc.  I was a tad skeptical about this as there are many reasons for a fever during childbirth that have nothing to do with the flu, and that seemed like a very harsh thing.

DH is a med student currently doing his OB/GYN rotation at Group Health. Today he asked one of his friends who is doing her OB rotation at Swedish about this, and it is not true.  In fact they had a woman in labor yesterday with a fever, but it was clearly not the flu, so no such restrictions.  Apparently they are screening visitors pretty carefully though.  

Mama_v2.0

Yeah...cause honestly that would be stupid....there are more studies done about the importance of BFing and h1n1 then there ever were studies done about the h1n1 vax (before they even released it to the public).

jcyahne

Good.  Because that would have been the most idiotic policy ever!

bunch

I was going to post about this too. I talked to my OB about and she said that there was a point a few weeks ago when if they suspected H1N1, they would make the mom gown up and have a mask to nurse, but that was the extent of it- it wasn't a refusal of BFing, just limiting the skin to skin contact and breathing directly on baby.  Current practice is just a mask if they suspect swine flu, no other changes...

She also said that last week she had a patient whose husband and 2 kids had it, then she delivered the new baby.  The hospital was much more concerned about her going home to that house than being with the newborn- I think she said they offered to let her stay an extra day or two.

epphd

Hi there,

That post was mine.  The childbirth educator who passed on the info is a Swedish employee, and she said the policy was new. I called the L&D dept at Swedish First Hill, who confirmed it BUT... the nurse there said that you also had to have other flu symptoms to effect the "quarantine". 

As well - she said that the policies are changing daily.  I agree that it sounds absurd and hopefully, you are right - the policy is not nor will it be in place.

That said, my Ob practices at First Hill and her nurse did concede that the policies are getting stricter.  I'm not due for another 2 months and the incidence of H1N1 is escalating - I don't think it's much of a stretch to consider that the policies will become more rigid.

So - can I say for certain what it will be?  No - but neither can anyone else, and that is what is scary.  What if I (or someone else) ends up in labor and one nurse or practitioner is particularly vigilant and tries to enforce such a policy?

Anyway - I just wanted to pass on what I heard

ETA: I have another childbirth class on Monday and will see if I can get clarification/additional info from the educator - or see if the policy just sunk faster than it could be implemented.