I know february is a short month, but seriously?? Where did it go?
This is a picture of me holding A's 5 day old baby, "little A". She is such a cutie!
February has been a big month for BEST- 3 babies were born at Seton Home, and all three moms gave breastfeeding a shot. One of them is exclusively breastfeeding. Woohoo! February also marks the first time that Miranda and I were invited to make a "BEST HOUSE CALL" for Two of the ladies at Seton Home. We were able to provide breastfeeding support for two new moms who had just come home from the hospital and were having some trouble with latching. One of those moms has become a full time breastfeeder so that is great. I am so proud of the hard work that these moms are putting in to give their babies the best start and so happy to be a part of this project.
At last week's meeting a fourth year medical student came with her 4 mo old baby girl and talked about her experience breastfeeding. It was so great for the girls to see someone positively modeling breastfeeding. They all asked the 4th year student right away if she was breastfeeding her "gerber baby", which I thought was so great. Breastfeeding is definitely becoming a "cool" thing to do at Seton Home- you can really see it in the girls' attitudes that it is something they take pride in. I am really starting to see that breastfeeding is really a no-brainer for teens. It is such a self-confidence booster for them when they are able to give their babies something that no one else can provide.
A few weeks ago, we held a large group meeting for anyone involved in BEST to come talk about the future of this project. I was happy to hear that two 1st year medical students want to stay involved next year. Thanks J and L! I know they will be great leaders for BEST. Also, Dr G and Dr B helped us come up with some ingenious ideas for a future BEST project. We are going to have the girls design their own Pro-Breastfeeding T-shirts! I think it will be a great hands on project
Finally, I was thrilled to see that, for the first time last week, our BEST alumni are coming to meetings in the pregnancy cottage even after they have been moved to new rooms. In the past, the girls would not return after leaving cottage B, so there was less "experienced" breastfeeding moms at the meetings. I think it is really great for girls who are still pregnant or who have just had their babies to see breastfeeding in action. There were three new Seton Home residents at cottage B last week, and I am excited to start over the curriculum with them, except this time we will have a few seasoned pros in their midst.
