McLeod Dillon is in the fourth phase to become a Baby-Friendly Designated Hospital. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative was launched to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding and mother/baby bonding.
McLeod Dillon stresses the importance of skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby immediately after birth, even if the mother has had a C-section. Also called Kangaroo Care, early skin-to-skin contact is a natural process that involves placing the newborn baby on the mother’s bare chest.
“We encourage mothers to initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth,” says Pat Jones, RN, Director of Women’s Services at McLeod Dillon. “Mothers should hold their infants with uninterrupted and continuous skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth, and until the completion of the first feeding.”
Babies who are kept skin-to-skin with the mother immediately after birth for at least an hour are more likely to latch on, improving breastfeeding rates. Mothers report less breast engorgement/pain and less anxiety at three days postpartum.
In babies, skin-to-skin regulates heart rate, blood sugar and breathing. It also helps maintain a healthy body temperature. Additionally, it can decrease newborn stress by calming and soothing the baby.
“Skin-to-skin with fathers has benefits for the baby as well,” adds Tracey Campbell, RN, a Labor and Delivery nurse at McLeod Dillon. “In fact, newborns cry less and achieve a drowsy, content state sooner when they are skin-to-skin with their father. Skin-to-skin has a calming effect.”
In addition to skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding, the Baby-Friendly Initiative also promotes rooming-in, where the baby stays in the mother’s hospital room 24 hours a day. Rooming-in allows the parents to be active participants in the care of their new baby.
Becoming a Baby-Friendly facility is a comprehensive, detailed and thorough journey toward excellence in providing evidence-based maternity care with the goal of achieving optimal infant feeding outcomes and mother/baby bonding. This designation compels facilities to examine, challenge and modify longstanding policies and procedures. It also requires training and skill building among all levels of staff, and entails implementing audit processes to assure quality in all aspects of maternity care operations.
“The journey is exciting and challenging,” added Jones. “It creates opportunities to develop high performance work teams and build leadership skills among staff, promotes employee pride, enhances patient satisfaction and improves health outcomes.”