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Home › Articles › General Health › Baby's Extended Stay

Baby's Extended Stay

The Reasons Some Full-term Babies Stay at the Hospital

By Lisa Goldstein

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The Effects on the Mother

Parents of full-term babies that have to remain in the hospital are parents with special needs, says Katie Smith, who has long-term experience as a registered nurse in the NICU at Magee-Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa. "They came in the hospital for the happiest event of their lives and something goes wrong and they leave without an infant," she says. "Some preterm mothers know they will deliver early and are able to somewhat prepare themselves." Parents of full-term babies do not always have this luxury.

Mothers of these infants often have a hard time with breastfeeding, Smith says. They're usually unable to establish feeding while in the hospital, and when they go home, it gets worse. This of course causes frustration and anxiety. It's also physically hard – especially after a C-section – to return to the hospital to visit the baby.

"The woman who has just given birth is bombarded with a flood of emotions – she is happy that her baby has arrived, but sad that the baby won't be able to leave with her, possibly guilty because she may blame herself about what has happened, exhausted from the birth and spending time at the hospital with the new baby, but guilty because she may have other children at home whom she feels she needs to be with as well," Collins says. "Every hour seems to bring a change of mood or emotion. Add this to the drastic hormone change that occurs right after birth takes place, and you have a recipe for a real emotional meltdown."

"My hormones were out of control," says Leslie Wilkins, a mom from Ann Arbor, Mich. "I constantly switched between being completely upset that my son was in the NICU to feeling completely guilty for complaining because he was in such good shape compared to the other babies. I remember wanting to rejoice and celebrate when he was discharged, but then feeling bad for even smiling amongst the other NICU parents."


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