Purpose of the Symposium
1) Discuss the benefits of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI) for hospitals, clinics, mothers, infants, and clinicians
2) Provide a forum for discussion among nurses, doctors, doulas, childbirth educators, midwives, administrators and others on the challenges and opportunities of implementing mother-friendly care in the clinical or hospital setting.
3) Provide a forum for dissemination of evidence-based best practices for maternity care.
4) Support clinics, hospitals and community-based programs in developing plans of action to shift the thinking in their organizations towards mother-friendly care and develop multidisciplinary coordinated networks of maternity care providers.
5) Practitioners and students of maternity care will obtain an objective understanding of the collision of worldviews and belief systems when the medical and midwifery models of maternity care intersect.
6) Participants will describe how the perinatal community as a whole can best collaborate to provide optimal care for mothers and infants based on the principals of the MFCI and the evidence-based practices available as outlined in the 10 steps of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI).
Principles of the MFCI are:MFCI Principles and Steps this session refers to are:
Principles:
Steps:
This session refers to MFCI Steps, 8 & 10:
Step 8:
Encourages all mothers and families, including those with sick or premature newborns or infants with congenital problems, to touch, hold, breastfeed, and care for their babies to the extent compatible with their conditions.
Step 10
Strives to achieve the WHO-UNICEF “Ten Steps of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative” to promote successful breastfeeding:
For a description of MFCI principles and steps, go to:
http://wholisticmaternalnewbornhealth.org/cims-mfci-principles-steps/Conference Themes this session refers to are:
In this session, attendees will be able to:
1. Compare and contrast the short- and long- term outcomes of human milk versus donor human milk and infant formula for infants who require care in the NICU.
2. Describe the Rush Mothers' Milk Club program of lactation and human milk feeding as an exemplar for supporting lactation in risk populations.
3. Discuss case studies and talking points that exemplify the engagement of families in decision-making about provision of human milk and breastfeeding after the NICU hospitalization.