Temple Women & Families is a comfortable, supportive environment to educate, counsel, and support breastfeeding mothers within our Baby-Friendly hospital.
Temple provides the best breastfeeding education and lactation support as a baby-friendly facility. We also encourage mothers to have their infants by their side as much as possible during their hospital stay, a method known as rooming in.
Supporting Our Community: Culturally Responsive Education
Breastfeeding can be done anywhere, is cost-effective, and helps you bond with your baby. It also gives your baby the best nutrition and a strong immune system. It reduces the mother’s risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure. Our Lactation Center aims to share these and many more advantages and benefits of breastfeeding with new and expectant mothers, with an eye on women of color, Native Americans, and Latinx women, who traditionally receive less exposure to breastfeeding education and, therefore, have lower breastfeeding initiation rates. The Lactation Center at Temple Women & Families provides culturally responsive practices based on input from the communities we serve to help close this gap.
Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that one-third of mothers who don’t receive breastfeeding support in the hospital stop breastfeeding earlier than they should. Our Center aims to give women the support and confidence they need to breastfeed.
Our Approach
We believe education on the benefits and advantages of breastfeeding empowers women with the knowledge to make an informed decision about whether breastfeeding is right for them, their baby, and their family.
Services and Education Programs
Breastfeeding Support from Day One
Doctors, nurses, and lactation consultants begin their support in the first minutes or hours after delivery. This is the best time to develop good breastfeeding habits for a successful and sustainable breastfeeding experience. Our staff is available to help new moms identify any barriers to starting or continuing breastfeeding. Common problems include:
- General pain or discomfort
- Infection
- Milk overproduction or underproduction
- Poor latch
Managing Problems or Discomfort
To help overcome these issues, an expert may observe you breastfeed your baby and provide support where it is most needed. Depending on your specific problem, the doctor, nurse or lactation specialist may:
- Educate the mother about normal newborn patterns and feeding cues
- Give verbal coaching and encouragement
- Provide hands-on corrections or adjustments to help mom and baby find a more successful or comfortable feeding position
- Provide tracking tools such as feeding and voiding logs
- Teach the mother how to maintain lactation and ease discomfort using manual expression and breast pumps
- Treat infections, chafing, and other physical issues
Breastfeeding After Leaving the Hospital
Our Temple OB-GYN doctors help new mothers achieve a positive breastfeeding experience with personalized, hands-on care and education backed by university research. In addition, we provide ongoing support after patients are discharged from the hospital to help address any breastfeeding issues that may arise at home. Our understanding of the complex problems associated with breastfeeding will help patients receive appropriate treatments with the latest evidence-based lactation support.
Benefits of Breastfeeding
Promotes Infant Health
Breast milk combines fat, sugar, water, protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and antibodies. It lowers the risk of many diseases and helps build a strong immune system. It protects against infection, promotes healthy weight gain, and even changes in composition to meet a baby’s nutritional needs over time. Breastfed infants have a lower hospitalization rate and tend to be in better health, requiring fewer visits to their pediatrician.
Promotes Mother’s Health
Parents also benefit from breastfeeding. Especially when accompanied by strong care and support after birth, breastfeeding can lower the risk for postpartum depression. It can also lower the future risk of certain types of cancer, as well as osteoporosis, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Breastfeeding also produces the hormone oxytocin, which promotes faster recovery after childbirth.
Bonding Through Feeding
Perhaps most importantly, breastfeeding promotes bonding between mother and child and a special—and mutual—relationship in which parents learn to read their infant’s cues, and babies learn to trust.
Personalized Care at Temple Health
Temple Health is the area’s premier provider of maternity care services for new and soon-to-be mothers. Temple offers the full spectrum of maternity care, from family planning and fertility services to prenatal care, baby-friendly labor and delivery, newborn screenings, and postpartum support. We practice a “rooming-in” approach, allowing mother and baby to remain together the whole time they are in the hospital. Rooming-in helps mothers learn their babies’ feeding cues and ensures there is no interference in the bonding process, which is an important factor in breastfeeding.
Ready for an Appointment?
Find a doctor near you, request an appointment, or call 800-TEMPLE-MED (800-836-7536) today.