What happens after your baby is born?
Immediately after birth
When you’re pregnant, you’re often so focused on the changes in your body and the upcoming birth that you don’t anticipate the enormous physical and emotional changes your body goes through after birth. Let the hospital staff know what you need or questions you have about the baby or baby care. Their job is to help you prepare for taking your baby home.
Why we recommend rooming-in
We encourage all healthy mothers and babies to enjoy ‘rooming-in’ at our facilities. This is the option to have your baby sleep next to your bed during your stay. Research proves that rooming-in helps with breastfeeding as they learn more about their baby’s feeding signals and can respond quickly.
Rooming-in also promotes skin-to-skin holding, which supports a baby’s transition after birth and promotes early attachment. The mother’s room is less distracting than the noises and lights in the nursery and helps stabilize the baby’s body rhythms (heart rate, body temperature, and sleep cycle).
Visitors
Many of your friends and family will naturally be very excited to come and see you and your baby, but we recommend keeping to set visiting hours and limiting the number of people coming in to give you time to rest and to get to know your baby. If you feel like you want your loved ones close by, let them know what you need help with, such as meals, cleaning, or running errands. Visiting policies vary at each hospital.
Keeping your baby safe
We provide a safe and secure environment for your new baby. We take strict precautions to prevent any unauthorized people entering our facility. All hospital staff wear identification badges, and you should not let your baby leave your room with anyone not wearing an identification badge. You and your baby will have wristbands with matching numbers. You should notify a nurse immediately if either you or your baby’s wristband is missing.
Newborn tests
Your newborn baby will get a group of tests, called newborn screening tests, before you leave the hospital. Each of these screenings or treatments is routine for all newborns at all our hospitals. Some of them are required by state law.
Circumcision
We offer circumcision at all of our hospitals on request.