can i legally take my baby home from nicu without doctor discharging orders?
My baby is 36 weeks and has no problems at all besides she doesnt east as much as they want her to every 3 hours, sometimes she will finish it all sometimes not, sometimes it just takes more than there 20 minute time limit. other than that shes great. the nurses are quick to not try to take the time to feed her and just tube it cause they have so many other babies to tend to and give me lame excuses such as she was tired or she didnt LOOK like she wud wana try. its kind of getting ridiculous cause when I feed her she does just fine. She was even put on lower level where they dont get watched 24 hours and there is 1 nurse to like 10 babies, so now her attention and the time they take to try and feed her went even lower! Can I legally make the decision to take my baby home without there consent/recomendation?
?2011-11-05T05:02:24Z
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Where I live, if you try to take a baby home before a doctor has signed discharge papers, they will go above you and keep baby in the NICU until they decide - and then the department is notified so you will be monitored afterwards when you are at home, so living here, it wouldn't work out well for you - I kow this isn't what you want to hear, and I do hear what you are saying (I know how busy it gets in there) - it won't be long though...maybe another week....I know that feels like a lifetime when you don't have your baby with you at home (I wouldn't let them take my baby girl for a second and I breast fed while I was on the theatre table being sutured, so I know that the separation is painful, beyond words) - but try to hang in there and be patient and your baby will be home soon - check with your state though as each country/state has different laws xo
I am a NICU nurse and they will not let you take home an infant AMA...they will call their legal department, get a court order to force the baby to stay...that will also trigger a social services call and your baby may not even go home with you when discharged.
THAT is how big of a deal it is.
Also, babies in ALL NICU's are on 24/7 monitoring. There is a reason for that. Most of the monitors are set on a 20 second apnea delay, so if your baby stops breathing, they will know it.
THERE IS NOT 10 BABIES TO 1 NURSE...if that is really the case, then you need to call the state and lodge an emergency complaint. The maximum you can do at ANY NICU in the United states is 1 nurse per 4 babies....PERIOD. MOST NICU's do less. So please, stop exaggerating!!!
Poor feeding can be a sign of a laundry list of problems. The MINIMUM feeding is set by the Registered Dietician and the Neonatologist. The means that if your baby, starts to consistently take less than the minimum requirement, your baby will either start to dehydrate or their blood sugar will start to drop....I have seen that happen and the ER visits when this happens after discharge (when parents refuse to listen to instructions) is not pretty....if you think having a baby in the NICU is a problem, try walking into his room and finding him limp with his eyes rolled back in his head...THAT is much worse.
There is a reason why your baby isn't feeding...and they need time to discover it. Usually it is the first sign of a host of reasons, you could have been a gestational diabetic,etc.
Sorry if the NICU isn't convenient, but that is how it is. Your baby is there because it NEEDS to be there. Parenting isn't easy...you cannot avoid things because it isn't easy...there will be immunizations and many doctor visits, etc. This is the easy part...the best thing to do is get tough now.
DO NOT DO THIS!! The baby may look okay but preemies can go under very quickly. My son was born at 24 weeks and 6 days. He is fine now but during the 5 months he was hospitalized I saw about 3 babies born between 34 and 36 weeks die unexpectedly. When a child doesn't eat as much as they should coupled with a premature birth there could be some unexpected issues. Talk to the doctor about why they are keeping her. Make them tell you everything and if you don't understand make them explain. You are your daughter's best advocate and sometimes that means you have to make yourself a nuisance. In my experience doctors may look down on a mother they perceive as uneducated or emotional so they give paltry excuses. Make them tell you what's going on. If they say all is well, make your plans to go home known and let them know you will be expecting discharge papers within the hour. That being said, don't take the baby from the hospital without those papers unless you want to start the journey of motherhood with Child Protective Services at your door. Good luck and congrats.
You could try but like others have said they will get a court order taking guardianship away from you. I took my 7 week old to the ER cause she rolled off the couch. They told me she had a skull fracture and needed to be kept for observation for 24 hours. After 34 hours my daughter was still doing great. I demanded they get me the paperwork so we could leave. At 3am they got a hold of a judge who said I ouldnt leave the hospital with my daughter. I called a lawyer I knew and prepared for a fight. Come to find out there was never a skull fracture there wasnt even a scrape my daughter was just fine. My lawyer went and vacted the order from the judgeand we left 10 hours later with an apology and a $400 bill. Not sure why they didnt charge insurance since I wasnt allowed to sign her out AMA. I now have a 10 day old baby in the NICU born at 34 weeks. They are keeping her because of feeding as well. She is in a crib, not hooked up to breathing machines but has a feeding tube because she "slept through" her care time. I am going to be able to stay all night since my sister has my other children. Its always in the middle of the night when they say she didnt wake up for her feed at all. I will see if there is any truth to that claim tonight. If she wakes up like she has been doing all day Im raising hell. I want my baby home. I find it strange she does great all day from 9am when we get there until we leave at 10pm everyday then she all of a sudden doesnt take a feed at all.