Originally Posted by Baby Beluga:
I have an interesting story/comparison about this:
Our local county hospital offers something called a "pregnancy package" where your entire prenatal and post natal care, as well as one dental visit and prenatal vitamins , labs, ultrasounds, etc are covered under one price. It serves those who are uninsured or under insured as we have a large population who can't afford health private insurance but make too much for state insurance. It's actually I pretty good program, TBH.
One catch of this program is you have to attend a class before leaving the hospital with your baby. It goes over car seat safety, safe sleep, not shaking your baby and the importance of putting baby in a safe place and walking away for a minute if needed. You even have to sign an acknowledgment form that you took the class.
If you go to a non-county hospital and pay the traditional insurance and co-pay route none of this is taught to parents.
I think there is a notion that poor/low income families are unintelligent and therefore classes are mandatory for them. However those who are seen as middle to upper income are thought of as being more intelligent and therefore the classes are not even offered unless the parent seeks them out themselves. IMO, it's ridiculous. I am not one for infringement on parental rights, but everyone should be educated on safe sleep practices and basic infant care. I feel like as families get smaller and older generations (grandparents/great grandparents/great aunts/uncles/etc,) have less influence and smaller roles in their grandchildrens/nieces/nephews lives, we have ended up with a generation of parents who lack basic skills for safely raising a baby.
I would be very interested to learn the ratio of high to low incomes for infants who have passed from unsafe sleep.
Our hospital REQUIRES everyone who gives birth there to watch a series of videos on safe sleep, not shaking babies, colic (video called the period of purple crying or something like that) and car seat safety. They won't discharge you until the videos have been watched (it records it on the TV if you have watched or not). It does not matter if it's your 1st or 4th,you will be watching the same ones, every single time lol. Before you leave, the nurses check you know how to put a baby in a car seat and will correct straps/position etc if it's not right. I thought this was "standard" practice?? I guess maybe it's not!