Posts Tagged ‘World Breastfeeding Week’

Breastfeeding Place Awards

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

As World Breastfeeding Week draws to a close I would like to mention this year’s Breastfeeding Friendly Awards given by the Allegheny County Health Department. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette writes that this year’s honorees are:  for their work sites: The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland/Pittsburgh, Downtown branch, and Community Technical Assistance Center on the North Side. The winning best places to publicly nurse are the: the Nursing Mothers Room at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC in Oakland and Nordstrom at Ross Park Mall in Ross.

What I find especially interesting is that Magee’s nursing room happened when Jan Mallak (my writing partner) asked one of her doula clients who is a prominent doctor at Magee if a nursing room could be set aside. Jan had helped her doctor-client to successfully nurse her baby and her client was very grateful. Her client agreed with Jan and got a beautiful nursing room made to commemorate  her  own nursing relationship and her baby. Yay Jan! Each bit we do to help nursing mothers leads us closer to becoming a breastfeeding culture. I am proud of Jan.

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Posted in Breastfeeding Support, Did You Know?, Doula to Doula, Strip District La Leche League | No Comments »

Breastfeeding is Ecologically Friendly

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Welcome to Friday of World Breastfeeding Week 2010. I wanted to explore a little bit about why breastfeeding is ecologically friendly—green, in a sense. Breastmilk is a renewable resource and it is free. When the baby nurses, the milk flows. When the baby weans, the milk diminishes. Milk is there when babies need it.

In contrast, formula is expensive and involves apparatus, bottles, nipples, refrigerators, etc. It makes money for companies and takes money away from mothers with babies. Worse, in the U.S. breastfeeding initiation is lowest among the poorest women. Women who can’t afford it are buying the formula.

Recently, CNN quoted a WHO (World Health Organization) study on the financial and human impact of formula. The study showed that formula costs the U.S. $13 billion in extra medical bills. Also, the study stated that if most new U.S. moms breastfed until their baby was 6 months, 1000 babies a year would live who now die. These mostly premature babies die from complications of being fed formula that lead to SIDS, necrotizing enterocolitis and pneumonia.

This is why World Breastfeeding Week is important. We need to help our new moms succeed at breastfeeding and become ecologically friendly.

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Posted in Breastfeeding Support, Strip District La Leche League | 1 Comment »

World Breastfeeding Week Splash Success

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Our LLL group had fun at the splash park.

Look at those breastfed babies and children! The weather was beautiful for our meeting. We had great fun at the splash park. We passed out lots of World Breastfeeding Week stickers to our neighbors. It was a fun way to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week.

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World Breastfeeding Week

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Welcome to Monday of World Breastfeeding Week, 2010. This year’s theme is: Breastfeeding just 10 steps , the baby friendly way. It refers to the Innocenti Declaration which has 10 steps to a hospital becoming a baby friendly hospital. Baby friendly means breastfeeding friendly as well.

Here are the 10 steps:

  1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
  2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
  3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
  4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth.
  5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they should be separated from their infants.
  6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated.
  7. Practice rooming- in – allow mothers and infants to remain together – 24 hours a day.
  8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
  9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants.
  10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.

What can you do to help make baby friendly hospitals normal for women throughout the world? There is a pledge form you can sign. For every pledge that is received, “Baby Steps” will be put on the world map . To participate, just complete this pledge form and send it back to WABA as an attachment by emailing to wbw@waba.org.my

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Nursing In Special Circumstances

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

World Breastfeeding Week is coming at the beginning of August. I have decided to join with the Breastfeeding Cafe to celebrate. They wanted to hear about nursing in special circumstances. It seems like I have a lot of stories to tell…

One of my favorites is when my son was about 5 months old and I had started going back to births. Being a birth doula, I never knew how long I would be gone when I left for a birth… Basically, I’d be gone for as long as the birth took. I had to pump my milk in anticipation and freeze as much as I could and hope it would be enough. At the birth I would have to take pumping breaks. The mothers that I supported were all planning to breastfeed and thought it was greatto have a lactating doula.

One of my births was proving to be very long. I missed my son and he missed me. We had enough saved milk for him, but I called my husband in tears to tell him that the birth was going to go for several hours more. It was becoming hard for me to relax to help my laboring mom (client). So my husband brought my son to the hospital. We met in a family waiting room. I held my son and nursed him. We were able to reconnect. It was much better than just pumping. Nursing my own son was therapy for me. I was able to go back into the labor room and finish the birth! Sometimes it is the doula who needs support!

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Posted in Breastfeeding Support, Doula to Doula, Emotional Support, Uncategorized | No Comments »