Maternity hospital to provide viewing room

Press, 27 December 1980, Page 7

Maternity hospital to provide viewing room

. ' .By.

KEN COATES

in London '

Mothers who have their babies at Britain’s famous maternity - .hospital, Queen Charlotte’s; in London, will soon be able to make the birth a special occasion for fathers and older, children. A special family viewing room will be brought , into use in January. - - > " According to the chainrian of the hospital’s medical committee,, , Mr, . Thomas Lewis, a consultant obstetrician, the room will be made to look as much like a bedroom at home as possible; , It would ’bi. "up to- -expectant-. t mothers,, to .invite whom they wanted, “But we don’t want it like Piccadilly Circus,”- Mr -Lewis said.’:;! &£ “Obviously the size of the room will determine how many people can, get.it, but the; whole idea is, to make it feel like home.” ' > .'■<? . •He? said the hospital expected mothers to ' be' sensible and. tell young ' children to go. off and play- when things got’ difficult; - It'would probably be'the husband and perhaps Tan'S elder t daughter who remained throughout.; ’ ' ’ • But.all Sedatives would be eligible to attend a birth, as long as-there was sufficient room.■; for them,? Mr - Lewis said? ' ' /

Mr Stanley Weaver, the 141-bed’ hospital-s chief I administrator, admits to 1 mixed feelings about the ] idea. ’■V .. - Viewing .rooms /were,,;_the “in” thing in.’ the- United J States, but some people said < they -were a nuisance and. caused infection. “ But he- hoped the idea would succeed at Queen Charlotte’s. Only mothers expecting normal deliveries would be allowed to use the family, room, and births would be “natural” without : monitoring or any other equipment being usedt If something went wrong medically, the mother would be moved to another room. ; /. .The : introduction of the' viewing room is an exten-. sion of the “bonding”’theories which have been responsible for the medical profession’s .encouraging : fathers to attend births. Addressing the British Psychological Society, Mr Charles Lewis, a part-time ■ lecturer at Nottingham, said i i recently that about 75 per I cent; : of fathers attended (births, . Most fathers who saw ■ their children being born res garded it as “a wonderful ; experience,” he said. ’ t It helped the relationship

Mr Lewis said there had been no research on the. effect of a family’s being present at a birth, but it was possible that seeing their mother in pain might have a harmful effect, ron children?} . ; ‘