Hudson Headwaters Health Network Practices Become ‘Breastfeeding Friendly’
Plattsburgh, NY, July 19, 2022 Hudson Headwaters Health Network’s Tupper Lake Family Health, Saranac Lake Family Health, and Pediatric and Adolescent Health are officially designated as New York State Breastfeeding Friendly Practices! Currently, ten out of twenty-two Hudson Headwaters locations have achieved this designation. These practices were supported in this effort by the Creating Breastfeeding Friendly Communities (CBFC) grant at the Clinton County Health Department.
As part of the process, the network has implemented policies and procedures such as; ongoing staff training, maintaining a chest/breastfeeding-friendly office environment and facilitating internal and external referral opportunities for mothers and infants. Hudson Headwaters promotes a culture within all of its offices that support chest/breastfeeding as the best way to feed one’s baby.
Brooke Castine RN, MS, Northern Clinical Nurse Educator and Network Chest/Breastfeeding Champion with Hudson Headwaters, says, “This designation enables health center staff to guide and assist North Country families with chest/breastfeeding support. Our ongoing relationship with the Clinton County Health Department has helped us to prepare other centers to soon receive this distinction as well.”
Throughout Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Warren and Washington Counties, CBFC works with a variety of settings to ensure a chest/breastfeeding-friendly care continuum is created and sustained. Beyond Hudson Headwaters, CBFC has worked with eleven other health care provider offices. In addition, the grant partners with child care providers and worksites to achieve Breastfeeding Friendly designation; community organizations to establish and facilitate Baby Café ® meetings and stakeholders to strengthen local chest/breastfeeding coalitions. Grant funding has also supported Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) scholarships to increase the number of lactation professionals who can provide individualized support in local pediatric, primary, OB/GYN offices and community-based programs. For more information on CBFC contact Health Planning and Promotion at 518-565-4993.
Because of the well-documented health benefits of breastfeeding for infants, children and mothers, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Department of Health and Human Services recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, with continued breastfeeding as long as mutually desired by mother and infant.
For more information about receiving Breastfeeding Friendly Designation:
https://www.health.ny.gov/community/pregnancy/breastfeeding/
Posted: July 19th, 2022 under Heathcare News, Northern NY News.