Rooming-in promotes breastfeeding.

I am responding to an opinion piece published in your October issue--"Respecting breastfeeding choices" by Wendy Hicks (p23). One aspect of the article needs further discussion. Hicks states that rooming-in needs to be a mothers choice. She states steep deprivation leads to postnatal blues, and separating mother and baby for short periods is not harmful.

With shortened postnatal stays, it is even more important that babies room in with their mothers. Removing a baby from its mother will deny her the opportunity to care for and nurture her baby. A new mother needs even more assurance and help. By leaving the mother with her baby, staff will gain insight into how she is coping with her new responsibilities. The obvious benefit is that rooming-in also promotes breastfeeding. Surety in this way the mother will grow in confidence and, dare I say, feel empowered, knowing she can meet her baby's needs.

Regardless of whether the mother chooses to breastfeed or not, bonding is vital and the future well-being of the child is in jeopardy if this doesn't happen. There is a high incidence of child abuse and neglect in New Zealand and a mother who bonds weft with her baby is less likely to be a neglectful mother.

The most logical person to comfort the baby is the mother. What should the staff do if a baby cries white in their care? Should they return it to its mother, in which case she would be woken anyway? Should the baby be given expressed breast milk via a syringe or some formula via a cup? Crying is a sign of hunger and, in a busy ward, staff may only take note of the baby once it starts to cry. What is best for the baby?

Are we so advanced that logic has gone out the window? Or is it because, once in a hospital, the mother and baby become objects of routine and lack of steep is considered a symptom of ill health?

The World Health Organisation states in its Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding that we are to practise rooming-in and that mothers and babies are to remain together. Breastfeeding is an emotive issue but best practice must still apply. Even if the mother has chosen not to breastfeed, the principle of rooming-in is sound.

For the public to have confidence in the health professions, we need to give accurate information, white not forgetting the baby also has the right to be near its mother.

Gabi England, RN, certified lactation consultant, Auckland