SOUTHEAST MISSOURI HOSPITAL BABIES NOW MAY STAY WITH MOMS

Visitors who stop to view newborns at Southeast Missouri Hospital's nursery may find the place nearly empty.

A new "rooming-in" policy began Monday at the hospital. Nursing officials said almost all the mothers have chosen to keep their babies close by.

In May, the hospital also relaxed visitation rules for the new mothers and babies.

Both changes are part of a move to give parents more choices when it comes to their new babies, said Sharon Stinson, assistant director of nursing at Southeast.

"The parents make the choices on what they would like to have," Stinson said. "A lot of the hospitals do this. This allows the parents to be the decision-makers."

Stinson said patients have requested this type of policy.

"We checked with other hospitals that had pretty much open visiting, and it was working," she said. "We are always looking for ways to improve our service."

The changes have proven popular with new parents, including Mary DePree of Cape Girardeau. DePree showed off her day-old daughter, Stacey Denae Weaver, to her sister, aunt, grandmother and a friend Thursday.

"I think this is more comfortable, she said. "I asked the nurses to just leave her in here, but if I want to go to sleep, the nurse will watch her."

Mike Weaver, the baby's father, said, "Everyone wants to see her and hold her."

The "rooming-in" concept changes much of what happens after a baby is born.

Mothers have a choice of having baby with them during day and evening or having the baby cared for in the nursery.

"If the mother is very tired they might want some rest," Stinson said. "We can do that, too."

Of 18 mothers on the floor Thursday, only two had chosen not to have the babies in their rooms.

Mother and baby are now considered a "couplet." Nurses from the nursery who care for the babies and post-partum nurses who care for the mothers work together.

"The nurses take care of mother and baby as a team," Stinson said.

She said the nurses are available as a resource for new mothers. "We can do teaching and caring for the infant right at the same time," Stinson said.

As part of the changes, Stinson said some refurbishing is under way also. "The rooms will be more like bedrooms. We will have new wallpaper, curtains and carpet," Stinson said.

The hospital plans as often as possible to make the post-partum rooms private rooms.

"We are trying to make it look more like home, more like a bedroom than an institution."

Visiting hours on the post-partum ward are now from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Siblings, grandparents and anyone else parents choose may visit while the babies are in the room. Visitors are asked to wash their hands before holding the newborns.

Stinson said research has shown that babies are not more likely to become sick because of visitors, unless the visitors are sick.

"A lot of the mothers like to have the brothers or sisters of the new baby come in to see the new baby," Stinson said. "They want to share that experience with siblings or grandparents.

"Before, visitation was pretty much limited to fathers. We had a set time for grandparents and a set time for other siblings. But it was pretty limited," she said.

"We still ask that mother give permission to touch the baby," Stinson said. "We also ask the parents not to allow someone with a bad cold or some infection to visit with the baby."

However, Stinson said, now parents must be the ones to say no to visitors or ask them to leave. "Of course, if they want to, we will do it."

The new policy, Stinson said, is quite a change from practices years ago.

"Twenty years ago mothers stayed in the hospital for two weeks. The babies were in the nursery and mothers didn't see them very much or have many choices.

"Mothers have choices in labor, like the LDR, labor delivery recovery rooms. Now they have choices after the baby is born.

"Today, patients stay in the hospital two or three days. They must learn how to care for this baby much sooner."

One possible drawback, she admitted, is that the nursery likely won't have very many babies for visitors to see.