BROOKINGS – To celebrate National Breastfeeding Month, New Beginnings Baby Café will hold an open house “birthday party” from 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 23. The event will take place outdoors in the picnic area just west of Brookings Hospital’s ER entrance. Cupcakes and punch will be served.
As a baby-friendly designated hospital, Brookings Health System established New Beginnings Baby Café in 2015 to give free support to breastfeeding mothers in all aspects of nursing, from starting to weaning and every variation in between.
IBCLC Lactation Consultant Aleycia Gerlach, RN, and Certified Lactation Counselor Nancy DeBoer, RN, meet with mothers during Baby Café sessions on Tuesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Prairie Perk Up Coffee Shop, inside Brookings hospital. Mothers who attend Baby Café can weigh-feed-weigh their babies to measure how much their infants drink in one feeding. In addition, Gerlach and DeBoer record the babies’ weights to chart growth.
New Beginning Baby Café is currently the only Baby Café session in South Dakota registered with Baby Café USA. More information about New Beginnings Baby Café and Brookings Health System’s OB unit can be found at brookingshealth.org/OB.
