Health Care

Specific Actions regarding health care were reviewed according to the Surgeon General’s Call to Action on Breastfeeding.  Kathleen Mason, Chair of the Healthcare Committee and The 10 Step Collaborative, finds that by working in a CT Baby-Friendly Designated Hospital, She has found that many of these actions are relevant to the hospital setting as well as the community. Lawrence & Memorial Hospital was the 8th hospital in the state to achieve this prestigious designation.
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If you are a healthcare clinician in a CT Hospital and would like to join the monthly 10 Step Collaborative Support Meetings, please join the CBC as a member today. Current members interested can be updated with the alternating phone conference and in-person meeting schedules by contacting Kathy Mason via email.

Action Steps from the SGCTA

  • Ensure that maternity care practices throughout the US are supportive of breastfeeding
  • Higher quality maternity care depends on standards that are consistent to every mother and baby
  • Develop systems to guarantee continuity of skilled support for lactation between hospitals and health care settings in the community
  • ​Create statewide networks for home or clinic based follow up care to be provided to every newborn in the state
  • Include basic support for breastfeeding as a standard of care for midwives, obstetricians, family physicians, nurse practitioners, and pediatricians

Strategies from the SGCTA

Help hospital work together to achieve BF designation
  • Establish systems to control distribution of infant formula in hospitals and ambulatory care facilities
  • ​Include basic support for breastfeeding as a standard of care for midwives, obstetricians, family physicians, nurse practitioners, and pediatricians
  • Establish partnerships for integrated and continuous follow up care after d/c from hospital
  • ​Establish implementation policies and programs to ensure WIC participants have services in place before d/c
  • Clinicians need to demonstrate competency in support of lactation and breastfeeding
  • ​Define standards for clinical practice that will ensure continuity of care for pregnant women and mother baby couplets in the first 4 weeks of life
  • Include support for lactation as an essential medical service for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children
  • Provide reimbursement for IBCLC’s

Breastfeeding & The Hospital Birthing Experience

You have choices in your birthing experience. If you choose to deliver at a hospital, Baby-Friendly designation means that the maternity care staff are specially trained to enhance the bonding and breastfeeding experience from evidence-based practices. You can expect standards of care such as skin-to-skin right after birth, encouragement to begin breastfeeding initiation within 1 hour of birth and having your baby room-in with you (as well as the other support in the 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding). Connecticut is leading the way in the proportions of births in Baby-Friendly designated hospitals. The CBC is actively working on increasing the number of hospitals obtaining designation.
For more information on Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, click here.

Ban the Bag: How Formula Marketing Impact Breastfeeding Rates

Mothers who receive formula samples are less likely to breastfeed exclusively and breastfeed for shorter periods of time. Studies have shown that women who receive commercial discharge bags containing infant formula are more likely to stop breastfeeding sooner than those who don’t receive these samples. The link between formula samples and reduced breastfeeding is well-documented. 

Recognizing the dangers of formula marketing, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in 1981. The Code states that manufacturers of infant formula should not provide samples of products to pregnant women and mothers. Healthcare facilities are not to be used for the marketing of infant formula brands.

Through efforts of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition,Ban The Bags, aims to remove formula marketing from hospitals. For more information or to have your hospital listed, register here.