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When someone breastfeeds, they release oxytocin, a hormone that soothes anxieties and helps induce a unique emotional connection to their newborn baby. Oxytocin, also known as “the love hormone,” packs a powerful punch that, while supporting healthy breastfeeding, has one potentially dangerous side-effect: it can make people tired. “New mothers are sleep-deprived and understandably stressed,” says…
There are a lot of frightening statistics surrounding infant deaths: more than 3,000 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly every year; black babies are dying at twice the rate of white babies; and sleep-related deaths have stopped declining. As frightening as these numbers are, they’re also numbers that can be changed. That’s why, in this article,…
How do I find time to breastfeed my baby at school? What will my friends think if they see me breastfeeding? Shouldn’t my mom just watch my baby? She knows more than me anyway. We can only begin to imagine how difficult breastfeeding must seem to mothers who are in the midst of their adolescence….
Creating sustainable changes to improve infant feeding practices means sparking a social movement. It means generating a collective response to a complicated question: what is the healthiest way to feed our newborns?
Bedsharing can lead to longer breastfeeding duration. It also leads to more infant deaths. These opposing facts represent a major dilemma for those working to improve infant health. It becomes even trickier when we dive a little deeper. Breastfeeding also correlates with lower sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rates, the most common cause of post-neonatal…
My baby always seems hungry, so I must not be producing enough milk. A fat baby is a healthy baby. My milk doesn’t look right; I’ve heard it can be dirty for the first couple of days. A decision regarding whether or not to breastfeed or chestfeed almost always comes from a place of concern…
Hispanic women face a unique set of challenges when it comes to breastfeeding, including overcoming longstanding cultural beliefs, such as views on healthy baby weight, and dealing with language barriers. When compared to all other ethnic groups, Hispanic mothers are most likely to supplement breastmilk with formula within the first two days of life. One hospital…
The NICHQ-led Best Fed Beginnings initiative has made it possible for 218,000 more babies to be born in Baby-Friendly hospitals every year. This means that more moms receive breastfeeding education and support that adhere to “Baby-Friendly” criteria for care. Thus, families are empowered to make better-educated decisions about breastfeeding and follow-through on them all across the country. …
A report on the highly successful NICHQ-led Best Fed Beginnings initiative is featured in the June online edition of the prestigious Pediatrics journal. The piece, “Best Fed Beginnings: A Nationwide Quality Improvement Initiative to Increase Breastfeeding,” features insights and analysis on the initiative’s major achievements, including driving 80 percent of participating hospitals to achieve “Baby-Friendly” status. Starting…
New York State (NYS) has reduced its infant mortality rate from 5.99 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2002, to 4.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014. But if you ask leaders in NYS, there is still room for improvement. In 2014, approximately 100 infants died suddenly or unexpectedly in NYS. These sudden unexpected…