Around the country, numerous hospitals are phasing out nurseries in maternity wards in favor of the practice of "rooming-in," wherein healthy newborns and their mothers stay in the same room, according to the Boston Globe. Proponents say the practice strengthens mother-child bonds and safeguards against postpartum depression, while critics say it could interfere with the extra rest women need after delivery. While regulations in Massachusetts still require hospitals to maintain nurseries, shrinking facilities leave nurses to make the call as to whether rooming-in or nurseries are the best option for individual mothers. "Competent patients have the right to make decisions on behalf of themselves and their babies,'' Carol Sakala, the director of childbirth connection programs at the National Partnership for Woman and Families, told the Globe. Article