ASTORIA – Columbia Memorial Hospital and its Lactation Program are celebrating World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7, 2018, by encouraging other businesses and health clinics to support breastfeeding women in our community. The theme for 2018 is “Breastfeeding: Foundation of Life.”
Businesses that support breastfeeding women by providing flexible breaks and a small, dedicated space to express milk realize significant payoffs, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Lactation-friendly employers have found that employee retention is better, sick time taken to care for children is less for both mothers and fathers, and health care costs and insurance costs are lower.
The CMH Lactation Program is dedicated to assisting mothers in all aspects and challenges of breastfeeding, including returning to work. CMH’s International Board Certified Lactation Consultants are also available to provide assistance to local employers in their efforts to implement workplace lactation support and/or policies.
Through the CMH Lactation Program, local families have access to professional breastfeeding support. With two nurses who have been certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) as lactation consultants, support is available 5-7 days a week for breastfeeding families.
Mothers should seek support if they:
Or when BABY:
CMH became a milk drop off point for the Northwest Mothers Milk Bank in 2015 and received its first donation in October of 2015. Since then, six local mothers have donated 1,456 ounces of breastmilk. Which is enough to milk to feed nearly 60 premature babies weighing 3-pounds for a week.
The CMH Lactation Program’s next big goal is to make processed donor milk available in the CMH Family Birthing Center.
For more information about World Breastfeeding Week, visit worldbreastfeedingweek.org. To contact the CMH Lactation Program, call 503-338-7581.
