BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Staff at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital are going the extra mile for infant-parent health.
From the first trimester to the first feed, NVRH lactation consultant Carol Moore-Whitney and her coworkers are along for the ride.
“I always feel we’re the sideshow, and this family is working together at just an incredibly beautiful event,” said Moore-Whitney.
While birth is the main event, NVRH staff are anything but an afterthought.
They’re highly educated on best practice infant feeding care from promoting breast and chest feeding to keeping parent and baby together as much as possible.
“Patients really appreciate the support to not be separated from their babies unless it’s absolutely necessary,” said Laura Emery of NVRH.
Those practices just earned NVRH its fifth designation as a baby-friendly hospital.
It’s Vermont’s oldest hospital to hold the title and NVRH shares it with just one other state facility.
“I think it just reflects that legacy. We’re fortunate to have had that at that time to sort of start that process and to maintain those connections,” said Moore-Whitney.
To get there, NVRH staff teach patients to embrace breast and chest feeding and carefully track baby and parent progress.
Officials from Vermont’s health department say other hospitals employ some of these techniques but can lack funding or staff to meet the marks for the baby-friendly designation.
“If you don’t have that initial support, it can be really challenging to get this off the ground,” said Gillian MacKinnon of the Vermont Department of Health.
She says the state aims to get more hospitals on board. Until then, NVRH is proud to keep the tradition going.
“For me, it means really bringing really good, consistent quality care to families in our area and in rural northern Vermont,” said Moore-Whitney.
Baby-friendly techniques also go beyond birth, teaching soon-to-be parents the importance of breast and chest feeding and giving them the tools to keep at it postpartum.