Father/ baby visits not allowed in hosptial?

C

cyberyoda

Registered User
Hello,

We were just infored by St. Teresa's that after the birth my husband, the father, would not be able to hold the baby until we check out from the hospital. For the first 4 days while i recover from my c-section, he can only view the baby through the glass. Is this normal and common in HK hospitals?
 
No! That's not normal! I had a c-section at the Matilda, my husband was present at the birth, cut the cord etc. He then took the baby upstairs with the ped. to be weighed, bathed etc. while I was stiched up.
I was in hospital for five days and my husband spent all day, every day with me and our baby ( he went home at night) in my room (semi private). He was encouraged to bath the baby by the nurses etc. And for the first day I was semi immobile so he was the one changing our son and bringing him to me in bed.
I have never heard of that before, it sounds ridiculous!
 
even at the gov't hospitals fathers are allowed during visiting hours...

sounds completely ridiculous to me too! i would be kicking up a HUGE FUSS!!!
 
it sounds ridiculous. newborns need the most is human contact!! are you sure that's what the rule is? it doesn't really make sense. i know in adventist, the dad's are not allowed in the baby room. but once the baby is pushed out of the baby room, anyone is allowed to touch or carry (up to the parents decision of course)
 
Are they crazy? Who will want to give birth in St. Theresa?
My baby born in Canossa, my husband holds Juliette before I have a chance.
Ridiculous. Go to other hospital.
 
I delivered in Baptist and they encouraged fathers to be there. My husband was with me throughout - from the c section (the whole process) to feeding, to even staying overnight too (we had a private room) as he wanted to be there to help while I breastfed our daughter.
 
Thanks for all the Replies! some clarity

Hi all. Thanks for the help. Yes, we have confirmed again with the hospital. The father can be there at birth but once the baby makes it to the baby room, only the mother is allowed in the baby room to breast feed the baby. The baby cannot leave the baby room until check out and consequently the father cannot visit the baby.

We called Baptist and they said that the rule has just changed as well at the end of last year and here too the father cannot visit the baby. So the 3 hospitals we are getting no visitation rights from are Union, St. Theresa, and Baptist.

Ladies, if we are missing something here please let us know. Sounds crazy to me too but can't figure out how we are getting the wrong message.

Even a prison allows for conjugal visits :).

Also, confirmed that Yes Matilda can see baby. And Canossa the father has 3 one hour sessions per day to see. This sounds somewhat reasonable.
 
Hi. I delivered in Baptist in Sept 2006 - my husband was allowed in then. Do you mean they have changed the rules since Dec 2006??
 
cyberyoda, did you say you are not allowed to take the baby to your own ward?

private hospitals seldom apply such strict rules on visitations! Is it anything to do with recent discoveries of dead birds with 'avian flu'?
 
Hi- I had a friend give birth at the Union in Tai Wai (is that the one you mean?) and she had her husband, daughter and countless guests in her room with the baby.

But from what you said, you are not allowed to have the baby with you in your room? Insane!
 
that is one ridiculous rule!! so besides breastfeeding, the baby must be left in its cot? without human contact? even animal babies snuggle against mummy for the first few days. so you mean babies who are born in these hospitals aren't even treated as the animals?! outrageous....
 
This is really disappointed. The hospitals told us that they changed the rule at end of last year as there were too many people stuck at the baby room before change of rule...even when we call Canossa again today to double confirm, they told us they changed the rule now. No father allowed in the baby room. If you have a private room, there is a possiblility they will allow you to bring baby to your room but NOT long time. But how many private room in the hospital?? Not everyone is early enough to book the private room. We were told by Union hospital several months ago that husband can make appointment to get into baby room to visit baby any time. But then just found out " they changed the rule". Our baby due later in March that we wont have time to change the hospital (it's all FULL) and doctor (different doctor register at different private hospital. If we want to change hospital means that we have to change doctor as well...)although this is really an important issue to us.

The nurse also claimed that the baby wont be left unattended. They still got human contact from the nurses who are supposed to take care of the baby. But they dont seem understand the importance of human contact with the baby's own PARENT!!! Really insane!!!
 
Of course you can change hospital. I just gave birth at Queen Mary and there were lots of empty beds, my baby stayed next to me the whole time, and my partner could of course see/hold/take care of the baby during the 3 hours of visiting each day.
 
Do you mean the public ward OR private section of Queen Mary hospital? As I plan to do elective C-section, no public hospital public ward will do C-section for you if there is no complication or special emergency case. For private section in public hopspital, we heard that there is NO choice of doctor (depends which doctor on duty)while the doctor that we are seeing now was recommended by friends who had good C-section experience....we want to make sure the doctor is good for smooth delivery.
 
That is crazy! They won't let you take the baby to your own room? If you are not having complications could you not just check yourself out of the hospital early? 4 days in hospital for a c/sec is twice as long as you would get to stay in hospital in canada if you have no complications. If it was me and I could not switch hospitals, I would leave as soon as possible.
 
After SARS, all private hosptals wont allow father to visit the bb after birth, of cause, except room in for private rooms.
 
that's not true, in adventist, matilda & hk sanatorium, my friend's babies were allowed in the rm as often as the parents wish for double rooms.
 
kerkermui, did you mean public hospitals?
There is plenty of confusion over this. The rules did change after SARS but they seem to be changing again with the overcrowding problem.
The only way to get an accurate picture is to check with the source(s) - all private hospitals will have their own rules.
 
At Matilda, Adventist babies are allowed in semi private/double rooms as often and as long as you want (24 hrs if you so wish).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top