CDHB Maternity Services supports baby and mother rooming-in together.
Why is rooming-in important?
Significant increase in the successful initiation of breastfeeding
Promotes successful breastfeeding
More likely the baby will be exclusively breastfed
Increases the duration of breastfeeding
Mother learns to identify baby's cues
Separation is stressful for both mother and baby
Babies breastfeed more frequently
Decreases the risk of breast engorgement
Breastmilk supply increases earlier
Mothers produce more milk
Babies gain more weight
Decreases jaundice
Encourages bonding
Improves the infant's sleep
Rooming-in does not make mothers more tired
Decreases infant's crying (baby will cry more if apart from mother and carers respond less to a baby crying, when baby is out of the mother's room)
Any medical procedures will be performed in mother's presence
Reduces the rate of infection by reducing exposure to foreign bacteria
Reinforces (to the mother) her importance to the baby
Baby is safer; for instance (in the rare cases) of choking, fire or 'baby-snatching'
Note: do NOT sleep with your baby in bed with you, at hospital or at home.