"Neonatal care"

I was induced at Armadale hospital due to pre-eclampsia, that went smooth as did the actual birth of my baby. It was not till 50 minutes after the birth, my baby had an apnoea episode. It was later found their sugar levels were 1.3. They were swiftly taken to NICU and looked after by the team there. 

This is when the treatment my baby, my spouse and myself received was horrible and traumatic. My baby struggled to breastfeed due to multiple issues (uncoordinated suck, weak suck etc. etc.). Without either parents' consent, my baby had a tube placed to feed them.

The clinical nurse refused to let me formula feed my baby and I felt they were rough and extremely rude about how I feed my baby. This nurse kept throwing my baby on the boob and telling my partner and myself my baby to be breastfed and even made us both go read a sign they had in NICU about how much better it is to breastfeed than formula feed. 

This nurse did not seem to care that my baby was not feeding correctly nor that it was hurting myself both mentally and physically. They refused to give us a bottle of formula or even just a bottle in general because I needed to breastfeed my baby. I believe that doing this made their sugar levels not rise. 

Whilst sitting in NICU for the week with my baby, I would overhear this nurse make comments about other people’s babies and their choices. For example, a newborn was crying and I heard this nurse say quite clearly and loudly, "ugh what do you want now for god sake".

In my opinion, this nurse was rude, insensitive and horrible. It’s beyond me how a staff member can I work in a field like that where you are so vulnerable. 

This nurse ruined my first week of being a mum. I truly believe they were the main reason I suffered postnatal depression and I’ve spoken to many nurses and mums who I understand also have had issues with this particular clinical nurse.