Brookings Health System scores perfection on infant feeding practices survey

Brookings Health System
Posted 1/17/25

BROOKINGS — For the third time, Brookings Health System scored 100 of 100 points on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and …

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Brookings Health System scores perfection on infant feeding practices survey

Posted

BROOKINGS — For the third time, Brookings Health System scored 100 of 100 points on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care.

The mPINC is a national survey of infant feeding practices in maternity care settings. Every two years, all U.S. hospitals that provide maternity services and free-standing birth centers are invited to participate. Brookings Health System scored 21 points above the average for hospitals in the region (79) and 18 points above the national average (82).

“New Beginnings Birth Center’s policies and practices help foster a supportive environment for mothers to make an informed choice regarding how to feed their infants,” Obstetrics Director Michelle Sand said in a news release. “Our team helps mothers prenatally, at the time of birth and postpartum, and post-discharge to help them reach their goals in their personal breastfeeding journey.”

Hospitals that participate in the mPINC survey are rated on six care dimensions that demonstrate supportive hospital practices to encourage breastfeeding. Those dimensions are:

  • Immediate postpartum care: Newborns are placed skin-to-skin with the mother immediately after birth and are continuously monitored during the first two hours following birth.
  • Rooming-in: Newborns stay in the room with their mothers for 24 hours a day unless a medical reason requires separation. Frequent observations of high-risk mothers and infants are made by nurses.
  • Feeding practices: Staff frequently counsel mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding and possible health consequences if infant formula is requested.
  • Feeding education: Staff teaches mothers to recognize and respond to feeding cues, assess effective breastfeeding, feed their newborn on demand, position and latch their newborn and hand express milk. Staff also ensures that mothers understand the risks associated with the use of pacifiers. If formula must be used, mothers are taught to safely prepare and feed formula.
  • Discharge support: Discharge criteria requires observation of effective feeding and scheduling in-person breastfeeding follow-up visits to help resolve any feeding problems and connect families to community breastfeeding resources.
  • Institutional management: Breastfeeding education, clinical training and competency verification is required for all maternity staff who work with breastfeeding families. Written policies are in place to support all the above dimensions.

According to the CDC, institutional changes in maternity care practices effectively increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates. Birth facilities that have implemented the World Health Organization/UNICEF evidence-based Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, such as Brookings Health System, typically experience an increase in breastfeeding rates.

Brookings Health System’s OB unit, New Beginnings Birth Center, has eight beds consisting of five labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum suites and three postpartum recovery rooms. The unit provides full OB services to expectant parents and enables area residents to deliver their baby close to home with a local physician. To learn more about New Beginnings Birth Center, please visit brookingshealth.org/OB.