MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach Receives Prestigious Baby-Friendly Designation

LONG BEACH, Calif., June 5, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Baby-Friendly USA has announced that MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach has received prestigious international recognition by becoming a designated Baby-Friendly birth facility. Out of more than 5,000 hospitals, there currently are 512 active Baby-Friendly hospitals and birth centers in the United States.

Baby-Friendly USA, Inc is the U.S. authority for the implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative ("BFHI"), a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The initiative encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding mothers and their babies. Based on the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, this prestigious international award recognizes birth facilities that offer breastfeeding mothers the information, confidence and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies.

"We are thrilled to achieve this designation," says Shari Kelly, RNC-OB, MSN, MSHCA, executive director, Cherese Mari Laulhere BirthCare Center, Neonatal Services & Palliative Care, Miller Children's & Women's. "We have been on the road to Baby-Friendly for several years and our focus has always remained the same ? providing an optimal environment for the initiation of breastfeeding. Our goal is to support all families while sharing the importance of breastfeeding."

Breastfeeding has a multitude of benefits for a mother and her child. Breast milk lowers obesity and asthma rates, as well as reduces risk of childhood cancers and decreases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Breastfeeding lowers mom's risk of cancers, minimizes maternal blood loss, helps the mother lose weight, and assists in shrinking her uterus back to size.

In order to achieve this designation, Miller Children's & Women's took special steps to create the best possible environment for successful breastfeeding, including implementing policies and practices to enable parents to make informed choices about how they feed and care for their babies. The 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding create an optimal environment for the initiation of breastfeeding. The steps put procedures in place to initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth, give newborns only breast milk, practice rooming-in and encourage unrestricted breastfeeding on cue.

To assist families with breastfeeding, lactation consultants are available seven days a week to provide assistance and support to reach individual breastfeeding goals. Miller Children's & Women's also offers an Outpatient Lactation Clinic, and an on-site breastfeeding supply store, which include breast pump rentals.

About MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach:
MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach, part of OC-based MemorialCare, provides specialized pediatric care for children and young adults, with conditions ranging from common to complex - as well as maternity care for expectant mothers - all under one roof. Only five percent of all hospitals are children's hospitals, making them unique not only to children's health care needs in the community, but across the region. Miller Children's & Women's is one of only eight free-standing children's hospitals in California - treating more than 14,000 children each year - and has become a regional pediatric destination for more than 84,000 children, who need specialized care in the outpatient specialty and satellite centers.

SOURCE MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach