From August 1st to 7th each year, Jamaica Hospital highlights its support for pregnant and nursing mothers in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week.
World Breastfeeding Week began 30 years ago as an initiative by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) to shed light on the many benefits of breastfeeding for newborn children and their families, including food security, nutritional benefits, and poverty reduction.
According to the WABA, this year’s main goal for World Breastfeeding Week is to strengthen the capacity of health systems, governments, communities, and other groups “to provide and sustain breastfeeding-friendly environments for families in the post-pandemic world.”
When it comes to supporting pregnant and nursing mothers with a healthy environment for breastfeeding, this year is also an important one for Jamaica Hospital in particular.
Jamaica Hospital currently in the Re-Designation Phase for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), a UNICEF program that recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal environment and meet high standards of care for breastfeeding. The Baby-Friendly USA designation is provided to care centers that recognize and promote breast milk as the standard for infant feeding.
The process runs from January 2021 through December 2022. To demonstrate compliance with the BFHI’s standards, Jamaica Hospital is assisting staff in developing their expertise and caregiving capacity for mothers and infants.
In addition to equipping care providers with the information they need to maintain a high level of care for breastfeeding mothers and infants, Jamaica Hospital offers a variety of programs to support both patients and staff. These include:
- Breastfeeding classes
- A lactation room for patients, visitors, and staff
- A milk depot for infants who are born prematurely or whose mothers cannot produce milk on their own
- Frenectomies for babies who face breastfeeding difficulties due to tongue tie