Hospital Breastfeeding Practices

April 2010, The Joint Commission (an organization that accredits more than 17,000 top notch hospitals and health care facilities in the United States) established a new set of evidence-based core measures for quality in perinatal care. Included in these core measures is a requirement that hospitals strive to increase exclusive breast milk feeding of infants from birth to discharge. This means that in order to be accredited, hospitals will have to be more cautious about their use of formula in breastfeeding babies. Here at MoBap, we take breastfeeding very seriously (and yes, we are accredited by The Joint Commission).

If any breastfeeding baby may need supplementation, their mothers are encouraged to pump or hand-express their own milk for use as a supplement. We have state-of-the-art, hospital-grade breast pumps for use by any mother that may need one while she is here. Our goal is that every breastfeeding infant receives as much of his own mother’s milk as possible before anything else is given. A Lactation Consultant visits every breastfeeding mother everyday that she is here, providing support and encouragement and addressing any questions or concerns that these mothers may have. We are very proud of our more than 85 percent breastfeeding rate and will continue to provide the very best for our breastfeeding families. We believe The Joint Commission will be quite pleased with our breastfeeding practices and other core measures of quality in perinatal care!

Health Care Reform

As we all know, Health Care Reform is under way. Regardless of how we feel about it in general, there are some specifics that you, as breastfeeding mothers and advocates, might be interested in discussing. President Obama’s signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also known as Health Care Reform) will positively impact those of us who are employed and breastfeeding. The Act states that employers must provide “reasonable break time” and a private place (not a bathroom) for employees to express breast milk for their children up to one year of age. This is great news! The law became effective immediately upon signing, and the Department of Labor is working quickly to establish rules for enforcement. Unfortunately, employers are not required to pay employees for the time spent expressing milk. Nor are employers with fewer than 50 employees required to provide breaks for this purpose if it would cause “undue hardship” for their business. Nevertheless, this gives us legal rights with regards to breastfeeding and returning to work. So, ladies, let’s gear up (great pumps are available for working moms) and discuss options with our employers!

Economic Benefits of Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is in the news again! A new study published this week in the journal, Pediatrics, deserves some discussion. Researchers from the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School did a pediatric cost analysis comparing current costs to projected costs if families were able to exclusively breastfeed their babies for at least six months. They found that if 90 percent of U.S. families complied with the medical recommendations to breastfeed exclusively for six months, the U.S.would save $13 billion per year and prevent more than 911 deaths (mostly infants). This comes as no surprise to those of us in breastfeeding circles. We’ve known the economic benefits of breastfeeding for a long time as similar studies have indicated in the past. Still, we are thrilled to see public acknowledgment of such magnitude. The authors of this new study conclude that current U.S. breastfeeding rates are suboptimal and result in significant excess costs and preventable infant deaths. So, ladies and gents, let’s keep up the good work in providing the very best for our babies (and pocket books)!