Greer Memorial working to become ‘Baby-Friendly’

Greer Memorial Hospital is working towards being designated as “Baby-Friendly,” which means promoting skin-to-skin contact between newborns and their parents, breastfeeding, keeping babies in the room with their mothers, among other practices.

The designation will come from Baby-Friendly USA, an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The hospital is currently in phase three of working towards the designation, said Claudia Jenkins, nurse manager. The Family Birthplace – Greer was formerly known as labor and delivery. Hospitals nationwide are “flocking to the Baby-Friendly designation,” Jenkins said.

“What that means is that, basically, we’re promoting everything we can for the mom and baby to have the best outcome for their delivery and their stay and when they go home,” Jenkins said. “It has several components to it, one of them is being…‘rooming in.’”

All aspects of giving birth – labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum care – happen in the one room, she said.

“We don’t take the baby away from you,” Jenkins said. “We want you to get to know your baby. Especially for first time moms – you know, the whole country has kind of changed. People are very mobile now. You don’t have generations living in the same area, where Aunt Suzy or your mother could be there to be in town with you.”

Jenkins has two adult children herself – a 30 year-old daughter and 25 year-old son. When she gave birth, she struggled to keep them in the room with her.

“I had to fight to keep my babies with me,” she said. “Back then, they were all taken to the nursery and were just brought out for feeding and then they were taken back to the nursery. I had to say, ‘No, I want my kids with me,’ and we had to get a physician order for that.

Breastfeeding is a huge component of the initiative.

“This has caused some controversy across the country as this has come out because we’ve been so used to thinking formula is OK, that there is no difference between formula and breast milk, and that’s just not true,” Jenkins said.

The WHO sites several breastfeeding benefits for both the mother and child, including disease prevention. The hospital has decreased the supply of formula by 80 percent, Jenkins said, and pacifiers are no longer available at the hospital.

“The recommendation is, until breastfeeding is established, at two to three weeks, then you can start with a pacifier,” she said. “It is a different suck for the baby.”

If a woman chooses to use formula feed, the hospital will go over how to proper store, prepare and feed the baby, Jenkins said.

What was intended as a nursery at Greer Memorial is now more of a meeting room, she said.

“The only time we would put a baby in there is if the baby were sick and needing to be transferred downtown for further follow-up and care, or if we’re doing a circumcision,” Jenkins said.  

The Baby-Friendly movement also includes “quiet time” from 3-5 p.m. each day.

“We’re going to request that visitors not come in and let mom, dad and baby have some down time during the daytime as well,” Jenkins said. “The baby’s in the room all night. They’re up during the night as well…Sometimes a little downtime with your baby is great that first 24 to 48 hours.”

Wendy and Jeff Henry had all three of their children at The Family Birthplace – Greer, including the newest member of the family, Sydney June born around 7 a.m. May 15.

The Baby-Friendly practices were in place during the birth of their older two, Judah, who’s 4 years old and Raylynn, 20 months.

“This is our third one here and it was the same,” Wendy Henry said. “They stayed with us the whole time. I’ve heard some people who don’t mind the sleep at night, but I feel more comfortable that they’re in the room.”

“We think it’s great here,” Jeff Henry said. “We had good experiences. The nursing staff does a great job and like Wendy said, I think it’s nice to have the baby in the room. The nurses are quick to come in, so you feel like you’re supported…I don’t know if we’re going for number four, but if we do we’ll be back.”

More information is available at babyfriendlyusa.org.

kjones@greercitizen.com | 877-2076