Henry Mayo officials are asking residents to send in photos of them breastfeeding to add to a photo mosaic as part of their recognition of Breastfeeding Awareness Month.

“We have a vested interest in providing our community with the education and support to our breastfeeding mothers by helping to improve the overall health for mothers and babies in our care,” said Mary Beth Sweet, lactation specialist, who led the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital’s application process for the designation. “Baby-Friendly enables us to continue to do just that.”

The location of the mosaic is yet to be determined, but the idea is to recognize the hospitals baby-friendly status.

Email your photos to: sweetmb@henrymayo.com

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The hospital recently hosted a breastfeeding event, where they showed a feature length documentary film called “The Milky Way,” about breastfeeding in the United States.

Attendees were asked to to bring a photo of them breastfeeding in order to enter a raffle to win a  “Mybreastfriend Nursing Pillow.”

Hospital officials decided to continue receiving photos to add to the mosaic.

“The mothers were moved with emotion,” Sweet said. “Mothers feel very fortunate to give birth in a baby-friendly hospital.”

The hospital received international recognition and the prestigious award of being titled “Baby-Friendly,” in 2011, following a rigorous application process that involved large amounts of data and paperwork and a two-day onsite survey.

Henry Mayo became the ninth Baby-Friendly Hospital in Los Angeles County in November 2011.  

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The initiative encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding mothers and their babies.

There are more than 20,000 designated Baby-Friendly hospitals and birth centers worldwide, with 199 in the United States.

There are ten requirements to receive this designation, one being having a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all healthcare staff. Another is training all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.

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The hospital has to inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding, and help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour after birth.

They also show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants. The hospital gives infants no food or drink other than breastmilk, unless medically indicated, and they practicing “rooming in,” which allows mothers and infants to remain together.

The hospital must encouraging breastfeeding on demand and give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants. They also foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and referring mothers to them on discharge.

Through its breastfeeding efforts and activities, Henry Mayo increased its in-hospital breastfeeding initiation rate to 94 percent, with 72 percent of new mothers exclusively breastfeeding at discharge by the end of FY 2013, according to CDPH.

“Both mother and baby are healthier throughout their lives, when babies are breastfed,” according to a news release. “Breastfed babies have less childhood cancer and diabetes and a lower risk of being overweight or obese in childhood and adolescence compared to formula-fed children.  Women who breastfeed face decreased risks of breast and ovarian cancer, anemia, and osteoporosis.”

With the benefits of breastfeeding too important to ignore, Henry Mayo began its quest in 2006 to encourage and promote breastfeeding among new mothers.  At that time, 89 percent of mothers who gave birth at the hospital wanted to initiate breastfeeding and 48 percent exclusively breastfed at discharge.

“Henry Mayo initiated a number of steps to grow these figures, including creating a multidisciplinary Breastfeeding Task Force to identify and remove hospital barriers to breastfeeding; offering 20 hours of classroom instruction for nurses in the women service’s unit, which covered such topics as solving common breastfeeding problems and effective positioning and latching techniques, and reaching out to local OB-GYNs and pediatricians to ensure moms-to-be and parents understand the benefits of breastfeeding,” according to a news release.

“Woman who give birth in a baby-friendly hospital are not required to breastfeed,” said Sweet. “not all moms have to breastfeed.

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