1511cf66_all_To_Action_on_Breastfeeding__Topic
[ID] 366 [Interest Areas] Concerned Citizen Employer Health Care Provider Health Professional Organization Other Areas: Pediatrician, mother [Comment] Prenatal -- There needs to be more emphasis on breastfeeding by OBs. Pediatricians often don't see mothers until after the baby arrives, and if a mother hasn't already decided to breastfeed by the time the baby's born, she's probably not going to decide to at that point. OBs need more education about the benefits of breastfeeding, and they need to be actively encouraging mothers to pursue it. Hospital/Post-Delivery Care -- We need more maternity care provided by midwives, who are more supportive of breastfeeding and overall maternal-baby care. We need fewer c-sections, inductions, and instrumented deliveries, as these lead to more discomfort post-delivery and result in more complications with babies, which means babies are separated from their mothers more often. We need more natural deliveries, in general, as this really seems to empower mothers to have confidence in their own bodies. We need more babies placed skin-to-skin with mother immediately after delivery, instead of being wrapped up in blankets and hats. We need babies to remain with their mothers after delivery, instead of being sent to the nursery for labs, monitoring, etc. We need babies to reside in their mother's rooms full-time in the hospital, and we need to eliminate the option of sending babies to the nursery at night, except in unusual circumstances. We need to eliminate formula-company gift bags. We need lactation consultants on-call at the hospital during the night, as this seems to be when most mothers become frustrated with breastfeeding and resort to giving formula. We need fewer circumcisions, since the stress and pain involved often decrease breastfeeding for several hours to a couple of days. [Topic] 
Maternal and Infant Care Practices: Prenatal, Hospital, and Post-Delivery Care
Call To Action on Breastfeeding
Topic