Denton Presby – Baby Friendly Initiative and Tub

Update: Denton Presby no longer allows moms to use the tub for births or while laboring, despite MANY moms requesting it. 🙁

One of my doula certification assignments is to tour a birth center and a hospital and write up papers on each. I attended a prenatal OB visit with a doula client today and then we toured the hospital with her older children. I thought I would snap a photo of the tub room, as I've heard other moms asking about what it is like. The official response is that the tub is only for laboring in, but if you ask the right doctor nicely and things are looking good then you can birth in there. Or so I hear... 😉

I was THRILLED to learn that Denton Presby is going through the process to become a Baby Friendly Hospital. In just the last two weeks the policy has changed and babies no longer have to be returned to the nursery if mom is sleeping (and there is no awake adult in the room.) Hooray!!! Here are the ten steps included in their new program:

The BFHI promotes, protects, and supports breastfeeding through The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding for Hospitals, as outlined by UNICEF/WHO. The steps for the United States are:

1 - Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
2 - Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
3 - Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
4 - Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
5 - Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
6 - Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk, unless medically indicated.
7 - Practice “rooming in”-- allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.
8 - Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
9 - Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
10 - Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic