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Just to clarify that - having had a baby in the UK in the past 3 months - what you say isn't correct (at least for England and Wales; I can't comment on Scotlan

Just to clarify that - having had a baby in the UK in the past 3 months - what you say isn't correct (at least for England and Wales; I can't comment on Scotland and NI but I very much doubt they have different systems). Mothers are frequently discharged from hospital the same day, or the following day. My wife had some (relatively minor) complications and thus had a 2 day stay. This is longer than average. Even mothers who had C-sections (i.e. major abdominal surgery) seem to stay <= 3 days, unless there's bigger complications. Once home, the mother's 'midwife' will make home visits 2-4 times in the first week before 'passing' the care onto a 'health visitor'. They will also visit at home (1-2 times a week) for the next few weeks, before this becomes an at-clinic care. There's also 'infant feeding nurses' (i.e. breastfeeding support) as needed, although this one does vary per area. So it's no-where near the Netherlands level of care (having someone do the chores those first few weeks would have been very useful!), but it is definitely not the case that "you're on your own" after leaving hospital after a multi-day stay.

dazzawazza 7y ago
That sounds almost identical to my (English) experience except I did it 25 years ago. In fact that's pretty much what happened when my baby brother was born 35 years ago.
arethuza 7y ago
Maybe worth noting that Scotland has had baby boxes for a while now: https://www.mygov.scot/baby-box/ https://www.mygov.scot/baby-box/
antidaily 7y ago
Discharged the same day?!
- tristanperry 7y ago
  It's from 5 years ago, but I don't think much has changed since https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/29/new-mothers-discharged-hospital-too-early-nhs https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/29/new-mot... was published. I should add that, from what I've heard, same day discharges is much more common for the second (/third/etc) child compared to having a first.
  - swish_bob 7y ago
    We wouldn't even have gone into hospital for the second one, except the midwife was unable (or too uncomfortable) to sew up the worse than expected tearing my wife suffered. Even after being whisked to hospital in an ambulance (at about 3 am), my wife was back home the same day. Mostly, I believe, driven by the fear of infection.
- isostatic 7y ago
  First one was 48 hours, and we were unimpressed at them holding on to us for so long. Second was born at 02:10, we were home at 19:39. Both cases was after an induction. Many babies are born at home. Is it true in the U.S. that the baby doesn't sleep next to the mother in hospital? I've seen these warehouses full of babies on TV shows, like in this photo: https://www.adoptionchoicesofkansas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/waiting-adopt-preparation-travel-law-birth-hospital.jpg https://www.adoptionchoicesofkansas.com/wp-content/uploads/2... But it always looks a bit distopian to me.
  - mceachen 7y ago
    FWIW our California-born babies slept with us (and was never taken away from me, except to be cleaned and weighed, and I was right there next to them the whole time). The "room of cribs" was the neonatal intensive care unit. It was, thankfully, empty when we were there.
    - sangnoir 7y ago
      > It was, thankfully, empty when we were there. uhmmm... Won't you rather wish they were not empty? I suppose it all depends on the manner of the emptying.
      - mulmen 7y ago
        In a previous life I did tech support in a hospital. One day I was called down to the ER to fix a printer or some other routine thing. I was accustomed to the chaos of the ER but that day nothing was going on. I commented to a nurse that "it is dead in here". She promptly and firmly informed me that we don't say those kinds of things in the ER.
        ArnoVW 7y ago
        Baby making activity is not randomly distributed throughout the year. Depending on where you live (i.e. when it is warm), the peak month changes. https://visme.co/blog/most-common-birthday/ https://visme.co/blog/most-common-birthday/
falsedan 7y ago
> (I can't comment on Scotland and NI but I very much doubt they have different systems) I can comment for Scotland: it's almost exactly the same. The territorial boards greatly prefer midwife-lead care, so the only times we saw a docter were: months before delivery, saw the GP once to confirm the pregnancy test results; a pediatrician a few hours after delivery to count fingers and toes. Everything else was midwives, and handing over to the health visitors 2 weeks after delivery.
qbaqbaqba 7y ago
Ah! midwifes. In Poland they are a dinging out species. Majority of them are in their 60s and... tired. Observing them washing the newborn is something to see: they use running water and hold the baby in one hand and operate faucet with the other. There's also a "patronage visit" when they strongly encourage the father to get his shit together and "just change the diaper, babies are hard to harm!". If you are lucky you may meet the midwife that helped your parents. Midwifes are also present during the birth. And they are in charge. Doctor is present. But has not much to say. He or she just has to follow midwifes directions, that's all. During my wife's first birth a doctor was over-voted and driven off by midwifes after suggesting Caesarian section. "I have 35 years of experience, do you want to deal with the next birth alone"?

dazzawazza 7y ago

That sounds almost identical to my (English) experience except I did it 25 years ago. In fact that's pretty much what happened when my baby brother was born 35 years ago.

arethuza 7y ago

Maybe worth noting that Scotland has had baby boxes for a while now: https://www.mygov.scot/baby-box/ https://www.mygov.scot/baby-box/

antidaily 7y ago

Discharged the same day?!

tristanperry 7y ago
It's from 5 years ago, but I don't think much has changed since https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/29/new-mothers-discharged-hospital-too-early-nhs https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/29/new-mot... was published. I should add that, from what I've heard, same day discharges is much more common for the second (/third/etc) child compared to having a first.
- swish_bob 7y ago
  We wouldn't even have gone into hospital for the second one, except the midwife was unable (or too uncomfortable) to sew up the worse than expected tearing my wife suffered. Even after being whisked to hospital in an ambulance (at about 3 am), my wife was back home the same day. Mostly, I believe, driven by the fear of infection.
isostatic 7y ago
First one was 48 hours, and we were unimpressed at them holding on to us for so long. Second was born at 02:10, we were home at 19:39. Both cases was after an induction. Many babies are born at home. Is it true in the U.S. that the baby doesn't sleep next to the mother in hospital? I've seen these warehouses full of babies on TV shows, like in this photo: https://www.adoptionchoicesofkansas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/waiting-adopt-preparation-travel-law-birth-hospital.jpg https://www.adoptionchoicesofkansas.com/wp-content/uploads/2... But it always looks a bit distopian to me.
- mceachen 7y ago
  FWIW our California-born babies slept with us (and was never taken away from me, except to be cleaned and weighed, and I was right there next to them the whole time). The "room of cribs" was the neonatal intensive care unit. It was, thankfully, empty when we were there.
  - sangnoir 7y ago
    > It was, thankfully, empty when we were there. uhmmm... Won't you rather wish they were not empty? I suppose it all depends on the manner of the emptying.
    - mulmen 7y ago
      In a previous life I did tech support in a hospital. One day I was called down to the ER to fix a printer or some other routine thing. I was accustomed to the chaos of the ER but that day nothing was going on. I commented to a nurse that "it is dead in here". She promptly and firmly informed me that we don't say those kinds of things in the ER.
      - ArnoVW 7y ago
        Baby making activity is not randomly distributed throughout the year. Depending on where you live (i.e. when it is warm), the peak month changes. https://visme.co/blog/most-common-birthday/ https://visme.co/blog/most-common-birthday/

falsedan 7y ago

> (I can't comment on Scotland and NI but I very much doubt they have different systems) I can comment for Scotland: it's almost exactly the same. The territorial boards greatly prefer midwife-lead care, so the only times we saw a docter were: months before delivery, saw the GP once to confirm the pregnancy test results; a pediatrician a few hours after delivery to count fingers and toes. Everything else was midwives, and handing over to the health visitors 2 weeks after delivery.

qbaqbaqba 7y ago

Ah! midwifes. In Poland they are a dinging out species. Majority of them are in their 60s and... tired. Observing them washing the newborn is something to see: they use running water and hold the baby in one hand and operate faucet with the other. There's also a "patronage visit" when they strongly encourage the father to get his shit together and "just change the diaper, babies are hard to harm!". If you are lucky you may meet the midwife that helped your parents. Midwifes are also present during the birth. And they are in charge. Doctor is present. But has not much to say. He or she just has to follow midwifes directions, that's all. During my wife's first birth a doctor was over-voted and driven off by midwifes after suggesting Caesarian section. "I have 35 years of experience, do you want to deal with the next birth alone"?