Re: about being told to sleep baby only on right side...

[Guest guest]

Kellie-

I remember you posting about this before. We were told to lay Dane

on his right side because he had reflux and it is suppossed to be

more comforting to him. I think what happened was that a speech

therapist said this first and then the nurses emphasized it over and

over again. They make helmets at the Cleveland Clinic (CCF) and

should know better. Those dr. screwed up so many times. They wrote

scripts for meds 5x the normal dose for Dane on 2 or 3 occasions.

Olivia was on these meds for reflux too so I recognized that right

away. I never thought to question about laying him on his right

side.

I am going to write a letter to the Chair of Neonatology this

weekend. At the very least, I want reassurance they will not tell

another parent this!

Dane's mom DOC Grad

> Hey . Glad to see you back.. Everyone was getting real

worried there

> for a while. I noticed in your post that you said you were told

in the

> hospital to sleep Dane only on his right side. Did they tell you

why they

> wanted you to do that? I'm just curious because if it were

possible to sue a

> military hospital, I would've sued long ago because that's what

the Army

> hospital I delivered in told me to do! I mean, I knew about

the whole

> back-to-sleep thing, but had a rough, traumatic birth and

was in the

> NICU for a week after being born because of a high fever and rapid

breathing,

> of which they never found the cause, even after being hooked up to

every

> machine and two spinal taps. I was breastfeeding at the time and

the NICU

> nurses told me that if I ever put down to sleep right after

feeding, to

> place him on his right side just in case he spit up. Okay. So

back in the

> early days, he was always falling asleep right after eating, so I

was ALWAYS

> putting him on his right side, never the left, because silly me

thought that

> there was something significant about the right side. This went

on until two

> months when we noticed the flattening on the right side. Anyway,

I wanted to

> sue because of the whole situation: letting me go two and a half

weeks

> overdue with only one stess check, and that was the day they

induced me

> because of low amniotic fluid and lack of movement, not letting my

husband

> stay with me at night when I had to stay six nights in the

hospital with a

> newborn baby who would not sleep at night but scream because there

was

> something wrong, telling me to put him on his right side to sleep,

then at

> the wellbaby checks, " Oh, his head is fine, it won't stay like

that forever, "

> but never a mention of repositioning. Then finally at six months

they refer

> me to a specialist because suddenly his head shape is a problem.

The

> craniofacial dr looks at it and says, yeah, it's plagio, so go

home and

> reposition for a month. Doesn't work because he's seven months by

this time

> and almost 20 pounds! So after a month, he says, " Okay, let's do

the

> helmet. " We get casted the next week, but the ortho is short-

handed, it

> takes a month to get the helmet....by this time it's mid October

and is

> almost nine months. My husband was scheduled to be discharged

from the Air

> Force on October 27th, at which time our base and hospital

priveleges would

> be revoked. For the whole two weeks got to wear the stupid

helmet, I

> was given the runaround trying to find a way to get a temporary

pass to get

> the adjustments on post. No one would help me, no one knew what

to do, and

> the orthotist pretty much told me, " If you can find a way to get

here I'll do

> the adjustments on the band until he can't wear it anymore. " I

was treated

> like the second-rate military wife and asked repeatedly why my

husband wasn't

> with me. He was working 12 hour days at his job at the time and

there was

> just no way. And here I am, no military experience, running

around an Air

> Force base trying to explain plagiocephaly to some sergeant who

could really

> give a damn, only to be told, " Oh, you need to go talk to these

people over

> in this building, " only to go there and be laughed at, " Why would

you think

> WE handled that kind of thing? " got to wear that helmet

for two weeks

> after all the heartache. Then once we had civilian insurance, he

got another

> helmet that didn't do much because he was a year by the time he

got

> it...(sigh)

>

> All because a couple nurses told me to put on his right side

to sleep.

> I tell ya, If you could sue the Government, I think I'd have a

case!

> haha...oh well, I have a happy, healthy little boy and that's all

that

> matters.

>

> I will definitely never take another doctor's or nurse's

suggestion as law

> ever again. I used to treat their words like they were etched in

stone, but

> now I know that when it comes to your child, their suggestions

really are

> just suggestions, general suggestions, and not applicable to every

child.

> Only you, the mother, can determine what is truly right for your

child.

>

> Anyway, that's all I have to say about that....LOL...

>

> Kellie, mom of

> Olympia, WA