Parenting: The role of fathers on maternity wards
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2020
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In January, midwives at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary complained that expectant dads were treating maternity wards ‘like a hotel’. Issues ranged from dads sharing beds with new mums, ordering takeaway food and making other new mothers embarrassed about breastfeeding. But as NHS policy states that maternity services should be ‘mother-focussed and family-centred’, should more be being done to welcome fathers onto wards? Jenni speaks to Dr Jeremy Davies from the Fatherhood Institute, NHS midwife Leah Hazard, and Cathy Nolan, who gave birth to her son last May.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
| 0:06.8 | searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the |
| 0:11.8 | telly we share what we've been watching |
| 0:14.0 | Fladiated. |
| 0:16.0 | Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming. |
| 0:19.0 | Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige. |
| 0:21.0 | And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less |
| 0:25.0 | searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.0 | BBC Sounds music radio podcasts. |
| 0:34.4 | Hello Jenny Murray here welcoming you to the |
| 0:37.4 | Women's Our Podcast for Parents. |
| 0:40.3 | If you were watching Call the Midwife recently, you'll have seen how doubtful some midwives were about having fathers around during and immediately after birth. |
| 0:50.0 | It was set in the mid-60s. Well now it's almost expected that a father will be |
| 0:55.8 | present and involved in the care of his new baby but last month midwives at |
| 1:01.5 | the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh complained about their constant presence on the ward. |
| 1:07.0 | They claimed the fathers were treating the hospital as a hotel, sharing beds with their partners, ordering takeaway foods, and making other |
| 1:16.4 | new mothers embarrassed about breastfeeding. |
| 1:19.6 | Well, the NHS says maternity services should be mother focused and family friendly so what |
| 1:25.6 | should be done to welcome fathers onto the wards. I'm joined by Kathy Nolan |
| 1:31.0 | who had her son in Edinburgh, |
| 1:34.0 | Layer Hazard, who's an NHS midwife in Glasgow, |
| 1:37.5 | and Dr Jeremy Davies, who's head of communications |
... |
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