"Disappointed after childbirth in Derriford Hospital"

I gave birth to my son in November 2008 in Derriford hospital in Plymouth. We were kept in hospital for a very long 6 days due to my sons poor breathing, and though he was fine the whole time we were in they insisted we stayed.

I was disappointed with the lack of the memories of some of the stay on the ward i stayed in, though i understood they were at times busy but mine and my son's medication was regulaly late and i had to always ask and keep reminding staff that it was time to have it and it still took a couple of hours at time for them to get it to us, that was very disappointing considering they kept us in saying things weren't okay and hospital was the best place for us - though i felt we could have gone home and i could have had mine and given my son's medication on time if i got it myself!

I also found it very stressful that to be able to have anything to eat i would have had to leave my son on the ward in my room while i went to have some food but with the breathing problems there was no way on earth i was going to leave him on his own and in my 6 day stay i ate the food once but that was only when it was brought to me by one of the staff as i was upset at the time. Surely its wrong to leave a newborn by themselves and you would expect the hospital for mothers to stay with their newborns rather then leave them.

I was also disappointed with one of the midwives' attitudes towards me when i wasn't sure if i wanted to breast or bottle fed, i at least wanted to try it but she just said if your not bothered there is no point trying it and walked out of the room. My son had been born at 4.38am and by then it was 12.00pm and he hadn't had anything before then so by then he was getting stressed due to being hungry. It then took her nearly two hours to come back but by then i pushed the buzzer to get someone's attention and said to just give me a bottle as no-one would come and help me try to breastfeed him.