The minute I gave birth to my daughter, the doctors took her away from me. I endured hours of labor without my husband to support me because the hospital wasn’t sure if I had the coronavirus and then I didn’t even get to touch my baby. 

I was forced to be alone and then my baby was, too. It was never a choice – they made the decisions for us. I know this is happening at hospitals all over the United States and I want to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

Join me in demanding that Surgeon General Jerome Adams use his power to stop hospitals from separating mothers and babies. 

They didn’t let me hold my baby for three days. They didn’t let me breastfeed her. I was treated like a criminal, and for what? When she tested negative for coronavirus, she was discharged to me with simple instructions to wear a mask when I was holding her at home. Why did they ever take my baby away from me? 

The dangers of coronavirus are serious, but the long term health risks of separating parents from their newborns are equally serious. The WHO states the benefits of keeping babies with their parents outweighs the risks of coronavirus, and it’s time Surgeon General Adams and the Center for Disease Control got on board.

We know the first hours and days after birth are crucial for the health of babies and mothers and separating them can have long term effects. Separation harms their ability to breastfeed, and these babies are more likely to have low blood sugar, low body temperature, increased weight loss.  

Separating moms and babies sets us up to fail. It means we get no hands-on breastfeeding support or education in infant care before being discharged from the hospital. Especially right now, when we can’t see our families or friends or professionals at home – for many parents, the hospital is our only opportunity to receive vital education and information about our babies and how to feed and care for them. Policies like this will particularly harm low income, black families – those that are already most likely to suffer. 

Mandatory separation of COVID-19 positive moms and babies is unethical, not evidence based and just plain wrong. It will cause more harm than good. I don’t want this to happen to you.  

We are calling on Surgeon General Adams to use his power to tell hospitals that newborn babies are safest with their mothers. Join us.