Westerly Hospital third ‘baby friendly’ in R.I.

WESTERLY – Westerly Hospital has joined South County Hospital and Newport Hospital as the third “baby friendly” hospital in the state, the R.I. Department of Health announced recently, moving Rhode Island closer to becoming the first “baby friendly” state.
The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for breast-feeding.
The program helps hospitals give mothers the information, confidence and skills needed to breast-feed – a practice linked to better health and lower rates of obesity in children.
Worldwide, more than 19,000 maternity facilities have received the Baby Friendly Award, but only 62 facilities have been certified in the United States.
Women & Infants Hospital, where about 72 percent of Rhode Island births occur, has taken steps toward becoming “baby friendly” by instituting a policy to have infants room with their mothers, educating providers and families on strategies to support and promote breast-feeding in the neonatal intensive-care unit, and changing the discharge gift bags given to new mothers so they don’t include baby formula.

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