South Nassau Communities Hospital Earns "Baby Friendly" Designation

Oceanside, NY, August 12, 2016 --(PR.com)-- South Nassau Communities Hospital has been named a 'Baby Friendly' hospital by the World Health Organization for its commitment to mothers and newborns and in recognition of its effort to foster breastfeeding.

The designation - awarded by the World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund's (UNICEF) via Baby-Friendly USA, Inc. (BFUSA) – has been won by only two hospitals on Long Island.

The 'Baby Friendly' designation recognizes birth facilities that offer breastfeeding mothers the information, confidence, and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies. The designation is for a period of five years during which time South Nassau will establish and maintain a data tracking system to collect and maintain statistics that will be reported annually and are related to the "Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding."

"This designation is the latest in a series of recent recognitions by national organizations that South Nassau is a place where quality matters and where patient care is paramount," said South Nassau's President & CEO, Richard J. Murphy. "In addition to being a WHO 'Baby Friendly' hospital, we recently won recognition from the American College of Surgeons as a Trauma Center and have been approved for new surgical and OB/GYN residency programs by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). These are all signs of our growing role as a regional medical center.

"I congratulate the staff of our Center for New Beginnings for their dedication to our newborns and to our new mothers. The Baby Friendly designation is a significant accomplishment that demonstrates our commitment to making certain that the newest members of the South Nassau family get off to a good start in life."

"This achievement is emblematic of our belief that providing our patients clear and concise evidence-based health education and information is essential to providing high-quality, compassionate healthcare services," said Sue Penque, PhD, RN, CNP, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services at South Nassau.

"While the process to earn the designation was demanding and rigorous, the time and effort that we put into it will translate to immeasurable returns as it relates to enhanced quality of care mothers and their newborns receive and the resulting decrease in morbidity and mortality associated with optimal breastfeeding," added Clara Mayoral, MD, chair of pediatrics.

The "Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding" were developed by a team of global experts and consist of evidence-based practices that have been shown to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration. Baby-Friendly hospitals and birthing facilities must adhere to the Ten Steps to receive, and retain, the Baby-Friendly designation. The Ten Steps are:

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.

2. Train all health care staff in the skills necessary to implement this policy.

3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.

4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.

5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.

6. Give infants no food or drink other than breast-milk, unless medically indicated.

7. Practice rooming in - allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.

8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.

9. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.

10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or birth center.