How Do Hospitals Support Breastfeeding?
Learning to breastfeed is a natural process, like walking, that relies on a lot of practice, especially at first. Good support makes it easier to get started; supportive champions make it easier to keep practicing through to mastery. Supportive hospital practices include: • Skin-to-skin contact – Doctors and midwives place newborns skin-to-skin with their mothers immediately after birth, with no bedding or clothing between them, allowing enough uninterrupted time (at least 30 minutes) for mother and baby to start breastfeeding well. • Teaching about breastfeeding – Hospital staff teach mothers and babies how to breastfeed and to recognize and respond to important feeding cues. • Early and frequent breastfeeding – Hospital staff help mothers and babies start breastfeeding as soon as possible after birth, with many opportunities to practice throughout the hospital stay. Pacifiers are saved for medical procedures.
