Cooper University Hospital has received a $10,000 grant from the Pediatric Council on Research and Education (PCORE) for the New Jersey Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI). These funds will be used toward improving breastfeeding education and support for new mothers giving birth at Cooper, fast forwarding the hospitals initiative to becoming a designated Baby-Friendly hospital.
BFHI is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer optimal breastfeeding support. The program assists hospitals in giving mothers the information, confidence, and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies safely, and gives special recognition to hospitals that have done so.
“With this grant, we intend to increase our exclusive breastfeeding rate-making us closer to our goal of being a designated Baby Friendly Hospital,” said Robyn Harvey, RN, Senior Director of Patient Care Services at Cooper and Co-Chair of the Breastfeeding Promotion Steering Committee. “Through personalized training, we are educating the medical and nursing staff to provide increased support for our mothers and infants.”
In order to become fully certified as a Baby Friendly Hospital, Cooper must meet the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding designed by BFHI. These steps include helping mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth, supporting exclusive breastfeeding and designing a supportive written breastfeeding policy which is to be used by the hospital staff. Cooper expects to complete more than 50 percent of these steps before December 2011.
“There are many benefits to breastfeeding. This particular project is being funded because of the role exclusive breastfeeding plays in obesity prevention throughout the life cycle,” said Lori B. Feldman-Winter, MD, Head, Division of Adolescent Medicine at Cooper and Executive Committee Member of the American Academy of Pediatrics section on breastfeeding. “Although the hospital is not the only place a mother receives support for breastfeeding, it is a critical link between the support provided prior to and after delivery.”