JAMICÁ C. ASHLEY
Staff Writer
TARBORO —
Encourage new moms to give their babies a healthy start at life.
World Breastfeeding Week is celebrating 20 years of the Innocenti Declaration and the implementation of the Ten Steps in maternity facilities across the world.
Over the course of 20 years, 20,000 maternities across the world have fully implemented the Ten Steps and have been certified by the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.
The Ten Steps for Successful Breastfeeding is a list of steps for healthcare providers to help them help mothers become comfortable with and regularly practice breastfeeding.
The steps include helping the mother initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth, prohibiting the use of pacifiers or artificial teats, give newborns no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically specified and train all staff to implement the policy.
Heritage Hospital is among the facilities promoting breastfeeding and even provides a quiet space outside the mother's room to make sure she has no distractions.
On the second floor of Heritage is the Lactation Room.
And it is just what it sounds like. It's a cozy room equipped with a rocking chair and breast pump for new moms to do what comes naturally after childbirth – lactate.
One at a time, mothers can go into this room and use the barely audible breast pump.
Each mom has her own one-use suction cups, tubing and storage containers.
The walls have pictures of moms, babies and how to use a breast pump properly.
"Breastfeeding supplies the perfect nutrition for a newborn," said Robin Davenport, assistant nurse manager in Women's and Children's Services at Heritage. "At Heritage, we make every attempt to allow the babies to breastfeed immediately or as soon as possible after delivery."
The American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that human milk is species specific and that any other substitute feeding preparations are markedly different, "making human milk uniquely superior for infant feeding."
There are three facets that benefit directly from breastfeeding – the mother, the child and local health care facilities.
Breastfeeding will decrease the mother's postpartum bleeding, help her return to her pre-pregnancy weight faster, along with a decreased risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and possibly hip fractures and osteoporosis.
An infant who breastfeeds has increased protection against bacterial meningitis, diarrhea, intestinal tract infections, ear infections and urinary tract infections because of the antibodies in breast milk.
Infants who are exclusively breast fed have a lowered risk of Type 1 and 2 diabetes, obesity, leukemia and potentially an increased IQ by as much as 10 points.
Communities benefit through decreased annual healthcare costs, by $3.6 billion in the United States alone, decreased cost for public health programs including Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children and decreased parental employee absenteeism and resulting decline in income because of a sick infant.
Davenport believes that a lot of new moms are hesitant to breastfeed and have a list of excuses for why they can't.
"I don't have any milk, I don't have enough milk, my baby is still hungry, I have to go back to work/school, I don't drink enough milk to have breastmilk. All these excuses are just that, excuses," said Davenport. "No matter what type of diet you have, if you can grow a baby, you can breastfeed that baby after birth."
Davenport explained that a lot of women "lack of family or social support/encouragement for breastfeeding and lack parental education regarding breastfeeding as normal."
"Breastfed babies need to feed at least every 2-3 hours during the first few days of life," explained Davenport. "Breastfeeding is a supply and demand issue, the more often the baby goes to the breast to nurse, the quicker milk supply and feeding routines can be established."
Rooming-in is also encouraged at Heritage, the practice of having the baby stay in the room with the mom as much as possible during the hospital stay to learn how to correctly breastfeed.
Even with the strides that have been made, there is room for improvement.
"At Heritage, our breastfeeding rate is stable with opportunity for growth," said Ernie Glover, manager of the Labor and Delivery Women's Pavilion at Heritage Hospital.
For the remainder of this week, Heritage Hospital will be giving away gift bags to mothers who exclusively breastfeed their infants.
