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A multi-year initiative to improve infant safe sleep and breastfeeding is launching sector-specific Communities of Practice in 2021 to address policies, improve skills, and learn from other advocates’ experiences. A virtual kickoff meeting on Jan. 28 will highlight the work of NAPPSS-INN to date, provide an opportunity to hear from constituents, and help identify…
As we dive in to 2020, we’re sharing an update on policies and public programs that impact children’s health outcomes. We’ve included, important legislation to watch in the coming months, and a summary of vital public programs and funding included in FY2020 appropriations. By knowing what’s happened and what’s coming down the pike, children’s health…
Improving infant safe sleep and breastfeeding requires a national commitment from individuals across systems and sectors: public health, hospitals, daycare and early education, home visiting, and advocacy organizations, to name just a few. By bringing together cross-sector partners focused on the common goal of supporting safe sleep and breastfeeding, initiatives can develop comprehensive strategies—strategies that…
In 2010, the U.S. made breastfeeding a national health improvement priority by identifying eight key breastfeeding objectives in the Healthy People 2020 goals, a ten-year agenda for promoting national health. And while we’ve made significant improvements as a nation (surpassing five of the eight breastfeeding objectives), there is still considerable progress needed to help more…
“Maternal and child health programs and professionals have become increasingly more cognizant of how fathers, specifically, affect their children’s health and development,” says NICHQ President and CEO Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP. “Moving this conversation forward, and highlighting strategies that support father engagement and involvement, is a critical opportunity to improve children’s health outcomes…
Over the past decade, hospitals across the country have increasingly moved away from the traditional use of nurseries for healthy newborn infants, choosing instead for babies to “room-in” with mothers so that they are kept together throughout their hospitalization. Among many health benefits to both mom and baby, rooming-in supports mother-child bonding, encourages skin-to-skin contact—which…
No mother should feel alone on her breastfeeding journey. But for new mothers and caregivers, who are often operating on limited sleep and balancing the needs of their newborn with the demands of their home and work life, breastfeeding can be an overwhelming and sometimes isolating experience. That’s what makes breastfeeding support, especially during those…
I’m worried my baby is not getting enough milk. I need to go back to work soon, and I can’t breastfeed or pump when I’m working. My baby prefers the bottle or does not want to breastfeed. According to a recent NICHQ survey, these are some…
“If we start building supports during children’s earliest learning moments, we have the potential to change the trajectory of their lives,” says LaTousha Daniels, CEO for Miami Children’s Initiative (MCI). MCI is located in Liberty City, a Miami neighborhood where crime and violence are chronic, and where the childhood poverty rate is 95 percent higher…
“Sleep-related infant deaths in the counties we serve are twice as high as the rest of the state,” says Stacie LeBlanc, BSN, RN, IBCLC, lead lactation consultant at Christus Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth Hospital. “Due to these alarming statistics, we felt a sense of urgency to join a national safe sleep improvement initiative. By teaching families…