"Maternity Nursing"

While my daughter had her stay at Geraldton Regional Maternity Ward she was attended by a day midwife who I felt was extremely rude, unhappy, and very unprofessional in their manner. They also gave a mix of formula and breast milk without consent each time which upset my daughter more so than giving the actual formula. They never once asked her to pump until she asked to see her lactation consultant either. When she saw her lactation consultant and was having phone consults, the midwives she saw were telling her to disregard this information as she was under the hospital’s care and not the IBCLC. This was in spite of my daughter’s GPO telling the midwives to follow the lactation consultant’s plan. I am very disappointed in them for this. 

The other major disappointment we have with this stay was that my daughter was suffering from incontinence post birth as a result of being unable to feel her bladder. This was naturally very embarrassing and distressing for her. She brought it up with multiple care providers, whereby they told her that they referred her to the physio. It took nearly 2 days for the physio to see her once the issue was raised. During this time we expressed to multiple midwives that she did not feel that it was pelvic floor related. I felt the physio visit left much to be desired also as there was nothing but a pamphlet given and told to come back in a week if unresolved. The incontinence continued until the night before her discharge when one midwife finally listened to my daughter and did some troubleshooting to assist. 

Maybe some further training to the nurse / midwives wouldn't go astray so they learn to get consent each time they wish to give a top up and also, as I believe happened, to not bring to work any personal issues that may affect the professional attitude toward a patient. As this made quite a bad experience for a very young mum. 

There were a few midwives who were wonderful during her stay. I would like to commend Sam, Dot, Tegan, Maggie, Shanae & Bec for the care that they provided to her in spite of the rest of her experience. No wonder breastfeeding rates are so low in the Midwest, the support is awful in my opinion.