Going home after giving birth
Discharge planning is a vital component of your stay at Peel Health Campus.
The anticipated length of stay following birth of your baby is:
- vaginal birth without complications – 6 hrs to 3 days
- caesarean section without complications – 3 to 5 days
Discharge time is 10.00am, although this is negotiable. Please ensure that you check your room and take all your belongings with you.
Peel Health Campus maternity ward offers early discharge planning where in consultation with midwives and doctors we can follow up with any remaining care through postnatal appointments on the ward. These will be arranged prior to discharge.
Community nurses provide ongoing support throughout the different stages of parenting. They have specialised expertise in helping parents to care for babies and your children, monitoring their progress and development. Following discharge you will be contacted by your early childhood nurse within the first 7 to10 days to organise the initial home visit. The address of your nearest early childhood nurse will be in your child’s health book.
Registration of birth form
Parents must register the birth of their baby within 60 days of delivery. The maternity staff will give you the forms for Registration of Birth and Family Assistance after the birth of your baby.
Healthy hearing
Prior to discharge, your baby will be offered a hearing screen to see if your baby can hear well enough for speech and language development. Our experienced hearing screening team will refer you to other services as required.
For further information on the Newborn Hearing Screening Program (external site).
Fitting my baby capsule
For your baby’s safety please have your car fitted correctly with a seat/capsule prior to going home. This is a requirement by law.
RoadWise coordinates child car restraint fitting services and provides access to qualified child car restraint fitting services across Western Australia. To find a Roadwise child car restraint authorised fitting service in your area, visit Roadwise (external site) or call 1300 780 713.
Read more information about childcare restraint requirements (external site).
Resources
For information on breastfeeding:
- visit Australian Breastfeeding Association (external site) or phone the Breastfeeding helpline on 1800 686 268.
- visit Breastfeeding Centre of WA (Healthy WA) or phone 6458 1844
- find accredited Australian lactation consultants (external site)
- visit healthdirect for breastfeeding information (external site) or phone1800 022 222.
For baby health information:
- visit Services Australia (external site) about services to help when you are having a baby
- find your nearest child health care centre (external site)
- visit healthdirect (external site) or phone the helpline on 1800 882 436 (free call).
- find parenting resources in the Women and Newborn Health Library (external site)or phone 9340 1100
- visit the Raising Children Network (external site)
- visit the Ngala Parenting Line (external site) or phone 9368 9368, 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week.
For bereavement support services, visit Red Nose (external site) or phone the 24/7 support line on 1300 308 307 for immediate support.