"Mother & baby unit"

I was a patient with our daughter who was 3 months at the time. We were admitted to the MBU & I’ll admit I was terrified at first.

It’s not until recently how really very unwell I was but realise that was why I was admitted.

My baby is breast fed & this was fully supported while in the unit. Staff and drs communicated well together.

I was independent in the feeding sense but I gave her the odd bottle to enable me to rest and this was appreciated.

The ward was clean and rooms were clean to, I appreciated the wipe clean floor in my room and en suite shower as at the time had problems with hygiene & the cleanliness of carpet.

I think I was quite a problematic patient being NHS staff in another trust I think I often felt I knew best - but in reality I was very unwell.

Only criticisms were the food was not filling and portons were small but staff helped and often gave me extra which was kind. This is also probably the fact I was feeding so could eat for England!

The nurses run the ward so well and are very appreciable. The community perinatal are an asset to the trust and the transition from ward to the community was smooth & well managed. This is a very scary time but it was handled the best it could have been.

Both myself and my husband attended coping skills groups (him for support as a relative of somone having BPD ) which helped us so much as a family. The consideration of our ‘support network’ at home helped him

to feel more valued.

The skills we learnt are valuable and I’d encourage people to try these groups if you’re offered them.