newborn procedures

Has anyone refused newborn procedures at the hospital, and if so how did you go about doing this? Do I need everything in writing before the birth, and how do I make sure my wishes are respected?

I do want the PKU/newborn screening, otherwise I think we are going to refuse the vit k shot, the first bath, the eye ointment, and hep b. I want to get this all worked out before I'm in labor so I dont have to deal with it then.

Also, what about vaccinations? I will get my baby vaccinated, but I don't like the schedule they have for these, and don't want them all at the same time. Has anybody gone 'against the system' with these, and how did that work for you? How did you work with your pediatrician?

hey I  am a maternity nurse. for the most part  refusing the first bath will be no problem just let everyone who deals with the baby know your wishes. As for the hep B - If your pediatrician supports  you( and most will as long as u are not high risk)  that shouldn't be  a big deal either. At my hospital we don't even give hep B unless mom is positive for the virus. On the other hand refusing the vit K and eye drop is a big deal  and no  doctor that I know of will support your refusal. Often the hospital staff will report u to the hospital social  services and it will be a big fight. Honestly I've heard of moms wishing to refuse the vit k and eye drop but in the end the baby always gets it. only people I know that didnt give their babies the drops and vit K shot were delivered outside of the hospital  ( home births). I must warn u it is preety  hard to refuse care for a newborn and the hospital has tthe right to do what the believe is best for the baby despite the parents wishes. But best wishes. Make sure you have support and info to back up your wishes

Original Post by newveggie:

Has anyone refused newborn procedures at the hospital, and if so how did you go about doing this? Do I need everything in writing before the birth, and how do I make sure my wishes are respected?

I do want the PKU/newborn screening, otherwise I think we are going to refuse the vit k shot, the first bath, the eye ointment, and hep b. I want to get this all worked out before I'm in labor so I dont have to deal with it then.

Also, what about vaccinations? I will get my baby vaccinated, but I don't like the schedule they have for these, and don't want them all at the same time. Has anybody gone 'against the system' with these, and how did that work for you? How did you work with your pediatrician?

Most of the vaccines are in two month intervals. Like you get a series every two months.

Original Post by kaimommy:

hey I am a maternity nurse. for the most part refusing the first bath will be no problem just let everyone who deals with the baby know your wishes. As for the hep B - If your pediatrician supports you( and most will as long as u are not high risk) that shouldn't be a big deal either. At my hospital we don't even give hep B unless mom is positive for the virus. On the other hand refusing the vit K and eye drop is a big deal and no doctor that I know of will support your refusal. Often the hospital staff will report u to the hospital social services and it will be a big fight. Honestly I've heard of moms wishing to refuse the vit k and eye drop but in the end the baby always gets it. only people I know that didnt give their babies the drops and vit K shot were delivered outside of the hospital ( home births). I must warn u it is preety hard to refuse care for a newborn and the hospital has tthe right to do what the believe is best for the baby despite the parents wishes. But best wishes. Make sure you have support and info to back up your wishes

This isn't true at all, they can't do anything to you or the baby you don't consent to.  And yes they can call CPS on you but really they can't do anything either, refusing a little medicine doesn't make you a neglectful parent.

wow, its amazing the difference between having a child here in Australia is verses having one in the states.

I am not going to even TOUCH on the debate part of this issue, but I will say that after reading through the posts here, I am even happier that I ended up having my daughter here in Australia.  They don't give eye drops here, and with the VitK and Hep B, I had to actually sign a paper saying whether or not I wanted them at one of my prenatal appointments. I also had the choice to start the course of vaccinations at her 2 month appointment.   As for the bath thing.... I wouldn't have even realized that was an issue.  My daughter actually didn't end up having a bath in the hospital because I left less than 24 hrs after having her (and she came out about as clean as a newborn can amazingly enough... i really expected more blood, etc., could have been because she was 2 weeks late). 

My suggestion, find a birth center or think about a home birth (I had my daughter in a birth center in a hospital here in Oz).  Good luck with your choices.

I just wanted to add a small bit of expert advice on the vitamin K issue for you to consider (I have a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, and extensively studied blood clotting and the coagulation cascade when I was in Graduate School and am now involved in cancer research).  Please note that I am not trying to convince you one way or another and it is ultimately YOUR choice, but I thought I would give you my take on the issue so maybe you could be even more informed. 

Vitamin K is integral to proper activation of the coagulation cascade leading to proper clotting of your blood.  We all need it, but some infants are born with a deficiency, so they are in danger on bleeding... especially intercranial bleeding (i.e. bleeding in the brain) which can lead to death.

Now, the issue started in the early 90's when two research papers from the UK came out suggesting a link between Vit K injections and increased occurence of childhood leukemia.  I went to our research database and read through these two papers, and I can say from a scientific standpoint, they are both a bit flawed in the conclusions.  Later studies from the US, Denmark, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, among others have since shown that there is no link between the shot and Leukemia in children.  However, the actual shot preparation from the different countries was slightly different for all of these studies.  So, while as a scientist, from reading these research articles, I can say that I am 99% sure there is no link... I am afterall a scientist and will never say the injection is 100% safe (nor would I say ANYTHING is 100% safe, we may one day discover some random little chemical in bananas causes cancer or something ridiculous like that, you just NEVER know for sure, like I said, I am a scientist!) 

To go into this issue a bit further, there are a number of published studies on oral vs. injection, as oral administration has never been shown in any studies to increase leukemia, but oral administration is not as effective and although a series of oral adminstrations is more effective than one, it is STILL not as effective as the injection. 

In the end, the choice for your baby is yours (given of course your wishes are followed in the hospital), but I would stress the importance of being scientifically informed (i.e. from the actual research papers) rather than google informed for everyone here. 

It never fails to amaze me how a flawed research paper given to the mainstream media can create such panic and confusion for people who would probably not fully understand the original report.  I think it is totally irresponsible and unfair to the general population to be provided with such skewed results honestly, whether they be positive or negative. 

Having said that, ultimately, it is the responsibility of EVERY person to make their own choices (for themselves and their children), and I am not going to be the person to tell them how to make those decisions, I just wish there was some way to provide better more accurate information from which people could base these decisions.

Good luck with your choices, decisions, etc. I hope you are able to get through it mostly unscathed

Original Post by nenewa:

I'm clueless here. I've heard of the vaccinations causing things like autism and I definitely don't want that for my child

 Please do a bit of research on this - the vaccinations do not 'cause' autism. But this debate is a whole different issue...

Original Post by manta515:

wow, its amazing the difference between having a child here in Australia is verses having one in the states.

 It's amazing how vastly each state is on the issues. Even more specifically; each hospital. I had absolutley NO issues with the hospital respecting my wishes. My midwife was supportive of any desicions I made. She herself is not a fan of all modern medicine, but rather researches naturopathic medicine. That's why I love her. Obviously if the situation requiring medical intervention occured, she would seek the most effective methods to treat or prevent illness. She would do it with respect for myself and  inform me every step of the way though. Some hospitals have VERY strict policies though. That is why researching your hospital is just as important as researching your choices and physicians/CMN's.

This was an interesting bit I read from a friend on iVillage:

A C-section mother was stating that her hospital required a 4 hour period to observe the baby after delivery. The parents would be unable to hold or see the baby in this time. She was having a perfectly healthy and uncomplicated pregnancy. When she questioned this procedure; they stated it was hospital policy and occured after ALL c-sections. That's nuts. Not only does she not see her baby for 4 hours, but she is unable to establish that initial bond or even breastfeed. Another woman who had twins via c-section had two beautiful babies in her arms in less than 2 hours @ 36 week delivery. Most other women also stated there was no set time frame to observe the baby. Kinda weird I thought.

hey I never stated my beliefs. I said the hospital will preety much make it seem like neglect. 

 hour period to observe the baby after delivery. The parents would be unable to hold or see the baby in this time. She was having a perfectly healthy and uncomplicated pregnancy. When she questioned this procedure; they stated it was hospital policy and occured after ALL c-sections. That's nuts. Not only does she not see her baby for 4 hours, but she is unable to establish that initial bond or even breastfeed. Another woman who had twins via c-section had two beautiful babies in her arms in less than 2 hours @ 36 week delivery. Most other women also stated there was no set time frame to observe the baby. Kinda weird I thought.

 My daughter was placed right on my stomach pretty much immediately after I squeezed her out (the cord was even still attached).  Again, something really promoted here in Oz because the majority of women here see midwives for their pregnancies (which I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend unless you have a high risk pregnancy!).  However, my best friend who gave birth in the states (LA) ended up with an emergency c-section (after a ton of what i think was uneccessary intevention despite the fact that she wanted a natural birth, but thats a whole long story).  However, despite her repeated requests to see the baby after they took her out, the doctors and nurses wouldn't let her and she had to wait some ridiculous amount of time before getting to see and hold her baby.... absolutely ridiculous if you ask me. 

 Please do a bit of research on this - the vaccinations do not 'cause' autism. But this debate is a whole different issue...

 Irishmum, I don't even think it is worth it to start this debate, I just bite my tongue every time I hear the claim that vaccines cause autism. 

Considering the most up to date research clearly shows that autism is present from birth and is caused by incorrect wiring in the brain (autistic individuals lack the proper wiring that allows them to immitate behaviour they see), AND the claim was that thimerisol in the vaccines (which has been removed for a number of years from all vaccines on the childhood immunization schedule) was the cause of autism, it's unfortunate this idea is still floating around.  Just another example of a faulty scientific study ended up in the mainstream and causing panic.   

Exactly.