"maternity care"

In general the care I received was as good as I expected, and when I required intervention (ended up having a forceps delivery) I was very well informed by the team and the support in final stage of labour was excellent. There was one incident which really bothered me though. After my baby was born I had one full day and night in hospital before being discharged. At 2am I and the other three women on the ward were sleeping when a midwife turned the lights on and shouted "right ladies, should we be waking our babies up to see if they want feeding" I had constantly been told to feed babies to demand throughout the antenatal classes so why would someone wake four mums and babies up in the middle of the night?! So as it was my first baby I did as I was told(!) and woke my daughter up. She would not latch on so I asked another midwife why she wouldn't feed. She told me there was no need to wake her for a feed, as babies would let their mum know when they were ready for milk. To many people this might seem insignificant, but after a two day labour that night's sleep was very much needed, especially as it was going to be the last proper sleep for a few months! conflicting advice is so confusing for a first time mum, and to wake up sleeping patients doesn't seem to be very appropriate.