GRMC's Bi-monthly Breastfeeding Success Brunch
On May 30th Gila Regional Medical Center's Maternal Child Department and First Born Program hosted its bi-monthly Breastfeeding Success Brunch. There were 13 people in attendance with siblings and a father joining in the celebration! There were 18 families congratulated for breastfeeding their babies to at least 6 months! This group shared their inspiring stories of commitments to breastfeeding. GRMC employees Mary Gruszka, RN, IBCLC with Lactation Services and Chris Jepson, RN, RD, IBCLC with the First Born Program hosted the celebration. These celebrations continue to honor families' decisions to feed their babies in the healthiest way possible.
During the week following this celebration, surveyors came from Baby Friendly™ USA for a two day site visit to assess Gila Regional Medical Center's readiness for designation as a Baby Friendly™ hospital. The results of this survey will not be known for 8 weeks, but the designation process took nearly five years of preparation involving important changes in our Maternal-Child Department practices, as well as hospital and community-wide support. Some of the practices that have become expected care include keeping healthy mothers and babies skin-to-skin immediately following birth and up through a newborn's first feeding, delaying newborn's baths for at least 6 hours (to prevent body temperature falling and maintaining baby's natural protective skin coating), and supporting rooming-in so that mothers and babies are cared for together in the same room.
Look for more information about a breastfeeding celebration on August 8th. World Breastfeeding Week's theme this year is "Breastfeeding and Work: Let's Make it Work!" and the Southwest New Mexico Breastfeeding Council continues will be hosting an event to support, encourage, educate and advocate for breastfeeding families in our community. For more information please contact the GRMC Lactation Program at 538-4676 or First Born Program at 388-9708 ext 11. If you are interested in being involved in breastfeeding advocacy in our community, please call one of the numbers above. The Southwest New Mexico Breastfeeding Council is happy to have new members!
You can also learn more about breastfeeding support in our community by joining the Facebook page:
Grant County, NM Breastfeeding Support-https://www.facebook.com/groups/297525007097009/ A community member keeps this page updated with local, national and global breastfeeding news.
Photo:
Front Row- Ray Driver (baby), Analissa and Azlynn Gomez, and Estrella Torres
Second Row- Tia Driver, Valerie Gomez and Sonya Torres
Third Row- Laz McCauley and Ezekiel Torres
Back Row- Ray Driver, Ethaniel and Erik