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Petaluma Valley Hospital ranked highest in county for breastfeeding support and success
(February 13, 2007 Petaluma, CA) – Petaluma Valley Hospital (PVH) ranks highest among Sonoma County hospitals in breastfeeding rates with mothers of newborns, according to a statewide study by the California WIC Association and the University of California at Davis Human Lactation Center. PVH leads local hospitals in successfully encouraging mothers to breastfeed both exclusively and overall, with 79.3 percent of maternity patients breastfeeding exclusively and 95.4 percent breastfeeding at least part of the time. “Exclusive breastfeeding” is defined as the infant receiving breast milk only, with no other fluid or food.
“These results demonstrate PVH’s philosophy and holistic approach to the birthing process,” notes Linda Troutfetter, PVH’s Perinatal Manager and head of the hospital’s Family Birthing Center. “Certainly women have choices about breastfeeding. But because we’re able to provide a warm, family-centered environment, there is more of an expectation here that they will.”
“A Report on California Breastfeeding and Hospital Performance” from the California WIC Association and the UC Davis Human Lactation Center compared 2004 data from hospitals statewide indicating numbers of post-partum mothers who exclusively breastfeed as hospital inpatients, a critical indicator of future breastfeeding success. More than 83 percent of California mothers choose to breastfeed their infants in the hospital. Sonoma County hospitals ranks 13th in the state collectively with a 69.7 percent rate for exclusive breastfeeding and 94 percent for any breastfeeding. Hospital policies to encourage breastfeeding have an enormous impact on a mother's initiation and longevity of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is also widely recognized now as the first step in preventing children from becoming overweight or obese.
The report is available through the County of Sonoma Public Health Division’s web site at http://www.sonoma-county.org/health/ph/mcah/breastfeeding.htm.
St. Joseph Health System – Sonoma County’s Infant Nutrition and Lactation Services features registered nurses who are trained and experienced in breastfeeding education, as well as certified lactation consultants who are available for both inpatient and outpatient breastfeeding counseling and support. The hospital also recently established a breastfeeding task force to implement additional measures to support breastfeeding, such as designating a daily quiet time for postpartum patients and their babies to be undisturbed by hospital personnel to allow breastfeeding, bonding, and napping. The task force is also forming a drop-in breastfeeding support group with lactation consultants as facilitators, and plans to add another drop-in group for Spanish-speaking postpartum mothers.
“We formed the Breastfeeding Task Force to look at how to keep our successful breastfeeding trend going, not only while maternity patients are in the hospital, but after discharge as well,” Troutfetter says.
The PVH Family Birthing Center is a Level I facility focused on providing family-centered birth experiences for low-risk deliveries, offering three Labor-Delivery-Recovery rooms. The facility includes capabilities for stabilizing higher risk mothers and babies for transport either to Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at its sister hospital, Santa Rosa Memorial, or to the LVEL III NICU at University of California San Francisco. PVH averages 45 deliveries per month. More information about PVH’s Perinatal Services and Family Birthing Center is available online at http://www.petalumavalleyhospital.org/services_birthingcenter.aspx.
St. Joseph Health System – Sonoma County (SJHS-SC) is an integrated healthcare delivery organization sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. Its mission is to improve the health and quality of life of the communities it serves. Entities include Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Petaluma Valley Hospital, Memorial Hospice, Hospice of Petaluma, St. Joseph Urgent Care Centers, and St. Joseph Home Care Network. SJHS-SC’s 2,800 employees offer residents of the Redwood Empire a spectrum of healthcare services. These include general acute care hospital services, trauma services, urgent care services, health prevention and promotion, acute psychiatric care, hospice care, rehabilitation, home care, infusion services, and community benefit programs that improve the health of our communities and the quality of life in Sonoma County.