Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class James Stenberg | Kelly Trout, staff nurse in the newborn care clinic and lactation consultant at NHP,...... read more read more
PENSACOLA, Fla. – In 2013, Naval Hospital Pensacola was named the top naval hospital for patient satisfaction in regards to childbirths, and the hospital is continuing to find ways to improve the care it provides to mothers and newborns.
The Florida Breastfeeding Coalition, a group of individuals, businesses and organizations aimed at improving the health of Floridians by working collaboratively to protect, promote and support breastfeeding have a Five Star Certification Program and NHP just earned its first star.
"Health care systems should ensure that maternity care practices provide education and counseling on breastfeeding,” said Regina A. Benjamin, former U.S. surgeon general, in an article on babyfriendlyusa.org. "Hospitals should become more ‘baby-friendly’ by taking steps like those recommended by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.”
The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program that was launched by WHO and UNICEF in 1991 to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding and maternal bonding.
As part of the BFHI, UNICEF developed a “10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding” guide for hospitals. The steps were developed from evidence-based practices that have been shown to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration. Any baby-friendly hospital or birthing facility wishing to attain a baby-friendly designation must adhere to the 10 steps to receive and retain the designation.
“There are 10 steps to [create] a baby friendly environment,” said Kelly Trout, staff nurse in the newborn care clinic and lactation consultant at NHP. “As an example, one [step] would be that a hospital doesn’t carry pacifiers. Our hospital does not carry them because we want babies to master breastfeeding and to help [mothers] bring in a strong milk supply.
“Another one is to initiate immediate skin-to-skin contact for at least one hour after birth. This is extremely important because with skin-to-skin, the babies are right there next to you, they hear your heart beat and your breathing and they start to bond with you. They will usually breastfeed a lot sooner with extended skin-to-skin [contact] rather than taking them to the nursery.”
Patient education is another of the 10 steps. NHP starts educating perspective moms during the prenatal period by asking them what their plans are for breast feeding. Regardless of the choice, NHP supports the parents in how they decide to feed their baby.
“We do not push it on the parents,” said Trout. “When [patients] come in and are not sure about breastfeeding, it is our responsibility to at least educate them. We let them know we are here to support them, but we will not bring it up again. If they choose not to breastfeed, we will provide the families with the formula they choose to use.”
The benefits of breast milk have been well documented. According to www.healthychildren.org, human milk provides virtually all the protein, sugar and fat babies need to be healthy. It also contains many substances that benefit the baby’s immune system, including antibodies, immune factors, enzymes and white blood cells. These substances protect babies against a wide variety of diseases and infections not only while they are breastfeeding, but in some cases long after they have weaned.
The hospital holds a breastfeeding class every two weeks. The purpose of the class is to educate the new parents on what to expect if they decide to breastfeed.
“During the class, we touch on the benefits of breastfeeding, positions of breastfeeding and just the very basics,” said Trout. “I like to focus my class on the first three weeks of breast feeding because that’s the hardest time and that’s when we have the most moms that quit. Between nights three and five, I call them crazy baby nights, the babies usually just want to cry all night long and they want to nurse. Parents think, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I doing wrong? I think my baby is starving,’ but I tell them that this is normal.”
Naval Hospital Pensacola continues to examine, challenge and modify longstanding policies and procedures in an attempt to make it a more baby-friendly hospital and earn additions stars. The process to earn additional stars is lengthy, but the staff at NHP is dedicated to earning them.
“Our hospital environment is awesome because all our labor and delivery nurses are breastfeeding friendly and very helpful with our patients,” said Trout. “We have some very proactive nurses and they are doing a great job of supporting the moms."
For more information about breastfeeding, please contact NHP Labor and Delivery at 505-6782.
| Date Taken: | 02.12.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 02.12.2014 15:23 |
| Story ID: | 120528 |
| Location: | PENSACOLA, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 572 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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