"Paediatric ward - parent experience"

My 3 and a half week old baby was admitted and subsequently diagnosed with a urinary tract infection requiring iv antibiotics.   The care from nurses and doctors was excellent and very attentive . Support staff were also on hand to offer cups of tea and something to eat as because my baby was so young and unwell I was pretty much tied to him 24/7 . 

Unfortunately changes to rules meant from day 2 of our stay staff were no longer allowed to provide tea/ coffee or any food for me as a parent . I have other children at home and as such my partner was not coming in to relieve me and due to covid no other family members could assist me so it meant that if I wanted a drink / something to eat I had to leave my still very sick baby alone and ask staff who are already under pressure to watch my baby . 

This is non sensical in my opinion - I am in a private room and cannot see the harm in remaining in this room with my baby whilst having a hot drink / something to eat . Instead I now have to leave my baby and go down to the main part of the hospital and stand beside other people in queues to purchase a drink / food which I will consume outside - in my opinion I am more at risk of bringing infection back to the ward doing this than remaining on the ward and being given a hot drink . 

Not all parents have someone to relieve them and need to stay with their children 24/7 . In my opinion the rules of provision of food / drinks giving ongoing covid restrictions re visitors etc needs to be reviewed . I can understand in normal times that it should not be the nhs responsibility to provide for parents but given ongoing restrictions being placed on parents with children in paediatric wards it seems as though the review of policy has been hasty.