Wasn't called out but had a lazy day with few visits...

At one of the postnatal visits I was astounded by the completely illogical advice given to the mum on her discharge from the hospital: she was advised to 'keep the baby indoors for 48 hours as she's small and it's cold outside". Reasonable enough, you might think, as baby Alex was only 2490grams, born at 37 weeks gestation, and it certainly is frosty cold today. But hold on there one cotton pickin' moment, just how exactly is this baby to be taken home if she shouldn't be taken outside?

And then, because the ward was busy and the mum didn't want to stay in a moment longer than she had to, she was asked to bring the baby back to the hospital the following day for the paediatric check. Let me see now, that's THREE trips outdoors into the cold. You get my gist?

AND I'm qualified to do the paediatric check...

But I had a very gratifying visit to another postnatal mother later on. I'd been to see her in the morning: 10 days postnatal and she's still expressing milk to give her baby with a bottle because she says baby Grace won't latch on, cries, refuses the breast when she tries to feed her directly. This mum burst into tears during my visit because she's so frustrated and tired - well, she would be, with twice the work of feeding the baby - all the sterilising and pumping as well as sitting down to actually give a bottle. Only once had the baby latched on since she'd brought her home, and that was when my colleague had assisted, so mum was very lacking in confidence and it's a well known fact that a baby's cry is designed to jangle every nerve in the body.

Since the baby was asleep during my visit I promised I would return this evening when Gracie woke up ready to feed. I was summonsed at 16.30hrs and hot foot round to her house: "Ok", says I, "show me what happens". So she gets her baby, positions her beautifully, and on she goes! HA! Sometimes this job is just so good. We laughed at Grace's contrariness and I congratulate mum on her breastfeeding prowess. Job well done and off I go.