BOLIVIA, N.C. – Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center has received international recognition as a Baby-Friendly Designated birth facility, becoming Novant Health’s 8th recognized birthing center.
The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a global initiative of the World Health Organization and UNICEF, was first launched in 1991. The initiative’s goal is to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies through breastfeeding and immediate skin-to-skin bonding by recognizing birthing facilities that successfully implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.
“We are thrilled that Brunswick Medical Center has been recognized as a Baby-Friendly facility,” said Shelbourn Stevens, president and chief operating officer of Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center. “We recognize that women who choose to breastfeed may need extra support during their hospital stay, and these evidence-based guidelines reinforced by the Baby-Friendly program help us provide that support to mothers and their growing families.”
As a Baby-Friendly hospital, Brunswick Medical Center is staffed with a lactation consultant who assists mothers in gaining the skills and confidence they need to breastfeed once the baby arrives. Other important practices of Baby-Friendly hospitals include encouraging skin-to-skin contact between mothers and newborns and rooming in, allowing the baby to stay in the mother’s room during their time in the hospital. Both practices encourage bonding and improve the newborn’s ability to breastfeed. Studies also show that immediate skin-to-skin contact helps newborns maintain their temperatures, normalize heart and breathing rates, and reduce their likeliness of crying.
“Breastfeeding has been shown to be one of the most highly effective preventive measures a mother can take to protect the health of her infant and herself,” said Belinda Phillips, lactation consultant at Brunswick Medical Center. “Research shows that a mother’s decision to breastfeed can be greatly influenced by the opinion and support of her healthcare providers. We want to ensure that mothers are connected to the resources they need to make informed decisions at every stage of their pregnancy.”
Research shows that breastfed babies have lower risk of asthma, childhood leukemia, childhood obesity, ear infections, eczema (atopic dermatitis), diarrhea and vomiting, lower-respiratory infections, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), type 2 diabetes and necrotizing enterocolitis, a disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract in pre-term infants. Breastfeeding is also linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, certain types of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in mothers.
“Many of the health benefits that babies get from breastfeeding early in life can carry on through adulthood as well,” Phillips said. She adds that for optimum growth and development, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that moms breastfeed exclusively until babies are 6 months old and continue until at least their first birthday.
Brunswick Medical Center joins seven other Novant Health hospitals that have been designated Baby-Friendly: Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center, Novant Health Matthews Medical Center, Novant Health Rowan Medical Center, Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center, Novant Health Thomasville Medical Center and Novant Health UVA Health System Culpeper Medical Center.
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