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Houston Babies
Terrible experience at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital - Texas Medical Center
I recently delivered my first baby at Children's Memorial Hermann, Texas Medical Center. I am a breastfeeding mommy, and my spouse and I took all of the prenatal classes offered by the hospital. I was extremely impressed with the breastfeeding class, and was convinced that this hospital was pro-breastfeeding and would offer the support and encouragement that I know is so important. My mother is actually an RN in Labor & Delivery at a hospital in Baltimore, and she is a certified lactation consultant--but because her hospital was under-staffed, she could not make it in time for the birth of our son.
When I checked in, I made it clear that I would be breastfeeding. However, after I delivered and then was transferred to the postpartum room, and our son was brought to us from the nursery, I noticed that the cards on his bassinet were checked "yes" for breast AND bottle. I immediately alerted the nurse that I absolutely did not want my son bottle fed, and she replied that "Oh, we always check both but if it says breast, we won't give a bottle." I was not comfortable with that answer--this makes no sense, and my mother has informed me that some nurses will go against the parents' wishes and give a baby formula from a bottle. So I forced the issue, and I actually took it upon myself to cross of the "bottle" feeding option on the cards, and I wrote "No!" and underlined it.
I thought the situation was taken care of, but because of this I decided against ever sending my baby to the nursery at night because I feared that a nurse would slip him a bottle and thwart my breastfeeding attempts.
Because breastfeeding is so important to me, I was diligent during my hospital stay with trying to feed him every 2 hours. I was getting really discouraged, even with the support of my mother over the phone, because he just would not latch. I tried everything--and had a lactation consultant come help me. The lactation consultant was confused by his reluctance to latch, and she suggested that my nipples were "flat" and gave me a breast shield to use. Even this lactation consultant brought up formula supplementation! I was becoming increasingly discouraged, and on top of this the nurses were bringing to my attention his jaundice levels (even though my pediatrician was FINE with them) and his drop in weight. I even heard them talking in the hallway about me! Saying "She claims she's feeding him and he's peeing and pooping, but his weight..." --All of which was normal for a breastfed baby, BTW.
Then, late the first night during one of my feeding attempts, my son regurgitated a white, milky substance. Because I had made it so clear I wanted no formula introduced, I thought that my milk supply must have come in early. It wasn't until I left the hospital that I realized it was NOT my milk supply, but FORMULA that my baby had spit-up all over us. The hospital staff snuck formula via a bottle into my son AGAINST my direct orders, and contributed to my problems with breastfeeding during our hospital stay. I was so discouraged, and I felt like such a failure--and all because I was deceived during my hospital stay.
I am absolutely livid about this. I also left the hospital with a "goodie bag" of formula--I didn't realize it had formula in it until I got home. We were told in the breastfeeding class that this hospital would not provide formula unless you specifically requested it--and that is not what happened. I was so upset by this because breastfeeding is a challenging process, and mothers without the personal support I was lucky to have would be tempted by the free formula. It's a terrible way to show support of a breastfeeding mother--and I am extremely disappointed by the outcome of my stay and the experience I had. I felt like my breastfeeding was fought on every level by the hospital staff at Children's Memorial Hermann.
So--if you are delivering there, do NOT send your baby to the nursery during the night, and when your baby is taken for weighings, send a family member or friend to accompany your baby. You need to make sure that they are respecting your wishes as a parent--and you cannot trust them to do that without supervision. Know that elevated jaundice levels and a drop in weight is NORMAL for a breastfed baby, and do not allow the hospital staff to make you feel bad about either one!
As for us--once we got home, I was able to master our latching and my son's jaundice levels dropped and he gained his weight right back. My baby's digestive issues resolved themselves once formula was completely out of his system--but this should NEVER have happened.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Terrible experience at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital - Texas Medical Center
Since this is your first post, hope you are here to stick around and not just complain about the hospital once and leave.
Sorry you had a horrible experience. Unfortunately what you experienced is pretty common in a lot of hospitals. I don't think it should be acceptable behavior but that is what is happening out there.
I delivered at Methodist Willowbrook and their lactation consultant threw in the towel after less than a minute and then suggested formula right away. It was definitely all up to me to figure out breastfeeding on my own. Luckily there was one really great nurse who helped me immensely but there were others who were no help at all and only suggested formula.
We were pretty much forced (because we knew no better) to formula feed because ds was jaundiced. They wanted me to formula feed THEN bf...um that doesn't work and I told them as much. Which is when I started pumping so he would at least get bm since they were concerned about how much he was getting.
The hospital staff, doctors, nurses, and lactation consultants need to support breastfeeding more than they do.
congrats on your new little boy! what an exciting time.
i also feel sorry that you had such a bad experience and it didn't go as you'd hoped and planned it to be.
i also delivered at hermann hospital in the med ctr and had a completely different/great experience with the nursery and lactation consultants. we did have issues with one of my nurses, but no issues like yours and both of my kiddos were exclusively breastfed. i remember both times them coming in and waking my dh and i up by rolling them in, telling me the babies were hungry. i had some issues with my #2 latching on and the consultant who helped me each day was awesome. i even called her a couple of times from home and she was great. so great, i took time to send in a written note to thank her and even sent her a birth announcement.
i hope your experience was more isolated than the norm and wish you lots of luck and fun at home with your baby boy.
I have to agree. I delievered at Hermann Med Center and my experience was wonderful and they VERY MUCH respected my wishes to breastfeed, in fact, they were most encouraging & supportive.
Sorry for the experience you had, but I don't feel that it's the norm there.
ITA with this!
OP, I also had a bad experience with Hermann (at Memorial City). There is so much pro-breastfeeding information all over the hospital and they are very proud of how trained their nurses are in regards to BF. In fact, in my BF class the instructor reinforced that the nursing staff is there to help and that the LC should only be called when you are really having issues (almost like don't bother her with petty questions).
My birth experience was amazing. I cannot say enough good things about the entire L&D staff that was there helping out. Aiden and I had immediate skin to skin time, we tried to nurse right off the bat, etc... Everything initially was great. And I would say in the PP/nursery area I was pleased with about half of the nurses we worked with. But when Aiden became jaundice and had to stay under the lights for 24 hours, it all went the other direction. They were insistent that he had to be supplemented after nursing (and I could only nurse every 3 hours and I could only have him for 30 minutes). One of the nurses said, "well, you can try to pump something but if your milk hasn't come in we have to supplement. You really won't get anything." It was in a tone of "don't bother." I wish that they would have guided me more, especially since I kept saying I really didn't want to supplement and asked what else I could do. I do blame myself for being somewhat unprepared and just not thinking about the fact that I should be pumping every three hours if they were supplementing him too.
I was discharged a day before A and they let us stay in our room up until midnight, so after that feeding we went home to shower and then back up to feed him. The overnight nurse acted very put out by the fact that I wanted to come and nurse him. She kept telling me to just go home and rest and they would just give him a bottle. I was so angry because I did not want that, yet they kept saying I would be better off resting (yet never reinforced that I should pump if I took that route). I ignored her and came back at 3 hour intervals to nurse him. But the supplementing they did afterwards threw us off balance and while he had gained a little when we went to the pedi the next day, a week later he hadn't gained any. Thankfully I got an appointment the next day with our breastfeeding savior LC and she got us right back on track (well, with a little triple feeding schedule for a while, but we were down to very little formula within 3 days and none within 2 weeks).
I just don't understand why they spout off so much about supporting breastfeeding 100% and breast is best, yet they seem so put out when we would ask for help half of the time. It all depended on who the nurse was that shift and I think that is terrible. I gave them an earful on the survey they sent out (and praised the ones by name who deserved it). Like I said, I blame myself too because I should have done more to be informed. But at the same time, when you are over the moon and so tired all at the same time I think it would be nice to have a strong staff there to support whatever decision it is that you make in regards to feeding your baby.
I can understand you feeling this way, and of course we all need to be as educated as possible to be our own advocates. But being a first-time mom is overwhelming for most people. It's hard to be confident in our knowledge when we don't really know what we're doing.
As for the baby nurses, as crappy as it is, I can understand why they want the baby to eat by whatever means necessary, even if it means thwarting breastfeeding efforts. First and foremost, their job is to make sure the baby is safe and healthy. If something happened to the baby while he was under their care, they wouldn't want to give anyone any reason to suspect that they had been negligent.
But it's still just as important to share an exception to the rule as it is the rule.
We had a effing rotten experience related to BFing at St Luke/TCH. They took L away, spinal tapped her, and held her hostage for 60 hours in the NICU under a "48-hour observation." All because we got a shitty nurse with a shitty attitude about BFing.
I learned hard but valuable lessons. The hospital was even in contact for a while after we left, ensuring that what we went through wouldn't happen again. I can only hope that's true but I'd never chance delivering there again just to see it for myself.
I agree. I delivered at Memorial Hermann in the medical center, and for the most part, I had a very good experience. I will deliver there for #2 as well. I do wish they pushed formula more than they did though. My son and I have different blood types, which pre-disposes him to jaundice. He was jaundiced badly, and it wasn't stressed to me how important it was for him to eat, whether that be by formula or breastmilk (which hadn't come in yet) until after we were discharged from Memorial Hermann and then admitted the following day to Clear Lake Regional for him to be treated for jaundice (level of 19). I felt like a failure. One of the reasons insurance is fighting us on paying for his jaundice treatment is that I was trying to breastfeed and wasn't feeding him enough. I wish I would have given him formula after every nursing session instead of trying to breastfeed, thinking that he'd be fine on just colostrum. I will absolutely supplement until my milk comes in with any future children. My baby's health is first before my attempts at breastfeeding and giving him/her formula is not a bad thing - it's not poison! I know my situation is not normal though.
BFP with no treatment!
I agree with you both and really hope that I didn't come across with a "formula is terrible" attitude because I definitely don't feel that way
I was more annoyed with the inconsistency between nurses and that they pushed breastfeeding so hard yet didn't provide the appropriate support when guidance would have benefitted us greatly. But I love my OB (did I mention she came in on a Sunday morning when she wasn't on call to deliver Aiden? And we talked marathons in between contractions. She rocks
) and when baby #2 rolls around I will deliver there again.
Oh no, I didn't even realize who Nanner quoted, I just liked her last paragraph.
BFP with no treatment!