Background: 24-hour rooming-in in Norwegian maternity wards has been introduced as one of the "10 steps to successful breastfeeding", the basis for WHO/UNICEF Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. This step, optimal in order to get lactation off to a flying start, has lead to some worry about maternal fatigue.
Materials and methods: Self-administrated questionnaires to health care personnel as well as to mothers in all Norwegian maternity wards were used to evaluate the impact of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. The same mothers were interviewed again 15 months later.
Results: Many (52%) felt tired after giving birth, but most (85%) were content with the care received. There was no difference in tiredness between mothers who chose to keep their babies with them and those who did not. Only 3.3% cited this at a main reason for tiredness.
Interpretation: Most mothers felt positive about keeping their infants with them at night. This demonstrates that Norwegian maternity wards generally have been able to implement 24 hour rooming-in in a caring way. Staff should offer to look after fussy babies without mothers demanding it and give the new mothers care and support in all possible ways.