Mum ‘refused food’ in hospital for 24hrs over breastfeeding rule

A Sydney woman claims she was left hungry during a stressful hospital stay – and when she asked why, the nurses’ response shocked her.

When first-time mum *Mary gave birth to her twins, *Alana and *Liam, she tried everything possible to breastfeed her beloved babies.

Having been born with jaundice, however, the twins needed far more milk than the Sydney mum could provide – so the agonising decision quickly had to be made to switch them to formula.

“I wanted to breastfeed so much… I even tried to express and there was nothing. I just couldn’t, and I thought, ‘I can’t keep doing this – it’s going to be hell with twins’,” the 37-year-old told Kidspot.

On the morning of February 12, Mary’s already tumultuous start to parenthood was made even more arduous when Alana, then aged three months, was admitted to Campbelltown Hospital’s paediatric ward with a UTI infection, causing her temperature to reach an alarming 40C.

“I was shaking on the inside, I had no idea a UTI could make her this sick.”

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A Sydney mum took her newborn to Campbelltown hospital and claims she wasn’t offered food because she didn’t breastfeed. Picture: Supplied/Kidspot

‘They only give food if you’re breastfeeding. That’s the rule’

As Mary anxiously waited until mid-afternoon for test results while calming her distressed baby girl, she noticed that the mother who shared the same room – who had been breastfeeding her baby – was offered lunch while she was not.

“I saw the food trolley go right past our bed and up and down the hallway, and it never stopped for me, so I thought to myself, ‘What’s going on?’ Why is she not asking me? Does she not know I’m here?’”

Too embarrassed to speak up, Mary instead relied on the two muesli bars sitting at the bottom of her handbag to last her until she fell into an exhausted sleep late that night.

But the next morning, after missing out on breakfast, on top of not having any lunch or dinner the previous day, Mary politely approached a nurse, asking why the staff member in charge of the catering trolley had not offered her food in the 24 hours she had been at the hospital.

The response was something she never, ever expected…

“She was quite flustered and said, ‘They only give food if you’re breastfeeding. That’s the rule’,” the softly spoken mum retells.

“I thought, ‘What am I hearing? Is she serious?’ I was shocked! I had never heard of that happening in Australia. I was really, really confused and it took me an hour to process what she’d actually said.”

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‘They only give food if you’re breastfeeding – that’s the rule.’ Picture: Supplied/Kidspot

‘The apologetic nurse handed me a leftover sandwich’

After the apologetic nurse returned to Mary with a “leftover sandwich”, the mum-of-two remembered the fact that her daughter was admitted as a private patient in the public hospital courtesy of the family’s private health cover.

This was when she decided to speak up about the “unfair” treatment she was receiving.

“I went to an administrator and said, ‘I’m shocked and disgusted about what I’ve just heard. How is this fair? How is this even possible?’” she says.

“She just said, ‘It’s something we’re not happy about, but it is what it is. It’s an old rule and we can’t do anything to change it.’

“I immediately thought about how many other mums have been treated this way and don’t have a voice.”

When Mary’s husband *James arrived to look after Alana for her second and final night in hospital while Mary returned home to Liam, the father-of-two was just as shocked to not be offered any dinner.

“He was furious, he couldn’t believe it,” Mary says.

“Then he sent me a picture of the cheese and crackers they gave him. I think they gave it to him as they felt so bad after I complained.”

The mum was given a leftover sandwich (right) after 24 hrs, while the dad had to settle for cheese and crackers. Picture: Supplied/Kidspot

‘The hospital policy is shaming the mums who can’t breastfeed’

Mary says she was not informed about the hospital’s rule on her daughter’s admission, and was not even asked in writing whether her baby was breastfed or not.

When she and Alana arrived, Mary was asked verbally if she would need water supplied for a bottle, to which she replied, ‘yes’.

This experience has led the sleep-deprived mum to feel “shamed” and even more “guilt” that she wasn’t able to breastfeed her four-month-old babies.

“We’ve had reflux issues since they were two months old and it’s affected their sleep where they would scream for hours, and I often wonder if it would have been easier if they weren’t on formula, so this made me feel worse,” she says.

“With all the knowledge that’s out there about breastfeeding and formula, I couldn’t believe it could be allowed to continue happening. There shouldn’t be a divide. There shouldn’t be this discrimination against mothers, who for so many reasons, cannot breastfeed. It’s really just shaming them and shoving them in the corner.”

‘I wanted to breastfeed so much but with twins thought it’s going to be hell’. Picture: Supplied/Kidspot

‘I will never go back to Campbelltown hospital’

If her family is faced with any need to return to hospital again, Mary is adamant she will be avoiding Campbelltown Hospital.

“I won’t go back there – there’s no way. It’s just not worth it… next time I would travel to a further hospital.”

Kidspot contacted Campbelltown Hospital to confirm its food policy, and a spokesperson did not address Mary’s complaint about formula-fed patients, the following statement was given:

“Campbelltown Hospital makes every effort to ensure the wellbeing of parents who are caring for their child.

“Staff arrange meals for parents only in special circumstances when they cannot leave the bedside – this may include when the child is isolating or receiving specialised treatment, such as oncology care.

“The hospital offers sandwiches to all parents during lunch and dinner periods. Sandwiches are also stored in the unit’s refrigerator for use between or after meal times.”

*Names have been changed

This article originally appeared on Kidspot and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Mum ‘refused food’ in hospital for 24hrs over breastfeeding rule