Chicago, IL – Advocate Trinity Hospital is the first hospital in Chicago to be certified as Baby Friendly, a designation from the World Health Organization recognizing the highest level of support for breastfeeding mothers and babies. It’s a step forward in addressing the city’s childhood illness and obesity epidemic. Providing infants with human milk gives them the most complete nutrition possible because it provides the best mix of nutrients for each baby to thrive. Scientific studies have shown that breastfed children have far fewer and less serious illnesses than those who never received breast milk, including a reduced risk of SIDS, childhood cancers and diabetes.
“Advocate Trinity Hospital has been delivering newborns for more than a century but we continue to get better and better at it," said Michelle Gaskill-Hames, president of Advocate Trinity Hospital. "Our mother-baby team has developed world-class standards that result in safer deliveries, support mothers and encourage a baby's healthy development."
The Baby-Friendly designation, which is granted by Baby-Friendly USA, recognizes Advocate Trinity Hospital’s success at providing an optimal level of support for breastfeeding mothers and babies. The designation was achieved after a rigorous four-phase process culminating with a comprehensive on-site evaluation.
“Advocate Trinity’s designation as a Baby-Friendly Hospital is an achievement to be celebrated and to be emulated,” said Dr. Adam Becker, executive director of the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children. “Breastfeeding from the earliest opportunity and sustained over time has been shown to have a positive impact on a child’s growth trajectory and thus many of our nation’s health experts consider it to be an important component of obesity prevention.”
A global program, Baby Friendly was launched by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund in 1991. The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding. “The City of Chicago congratulates Advocate Trinity Hospital on being recognized as Chicago’s first Baby-Friendly Hospital,” said Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Julie Morita, M.D. “Breast feeding gives infants an advantage that will help them for the rest of their lives. This is one more step forward in our ongoing efforts to improve the health of all infants and children across Chicago.”
Currently just 326 U.S. hospitals and birthing centers in 48 states and the District of Columbia hold the breastfeeding designation, according to Baby Friendly U.S.A., which is the accrediting body for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative.
“Breastfeeding is especially important in communities where support has been traditionally lacking,” said Mary Ann Neumann, advance practice nurse for Women and Infant Services at Advocate Trinity Hospital. “Women who are young, have a lower economic status or are African American have been shown to have a lower breastfeeding rate overall.”
To be designated as a Baby Friendly Hospital, each birthing facility must adhere to the following ten successful steps.
1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff
2. Train all health care staff in the skills necessary to implement this policy
3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding
4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding with one hour of birth
5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants
6. Give infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated
7. Practice rooming in—allowing mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day
8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand
9. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants
10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or birth center
In honor of the achievement, every baby born at Trinity in 2016 will receive a free onesie.