January 2016 - In This Issue:
 

ABOUT US

The BCW newsletter is sent to BCW members and partners every other month. Please feel free to forward our newsletter to other coalition members, groups or individuals. 

QUESTIONS?  

 

Contact the Breastfeeding Promotion Manager:

Alex Sosa at alexs@withinreachwa.org or  206-838-8655

 

For more information about the Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington:

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BREASTFEEDING IN
THE MEDIA
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RESOURCES

WithinReach Breastfeeding & WIC Materials

Advancing a Family Friendly America: How Family Friendly Is Your State?
The Tactics of Trust from Stanford Social Innovation Review
 
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HAPPENINGS   
Next BCW General Meeting will be held
April 28 @ 1pm.
  

FEBRUARY 8-12, 2016
San Diego, CA

APRIL 20, 2016
The Lactation Journal Club
Seattle, WA

JULY 20-23, 2016
2016 Annual ILCA Conference
Chicago, IL
 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
Spokane, WA
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In 2015 we reflected on our past successes and focused on laying a foundation to ensure that the BCW remains a vital entity within the breastfeeding community. Our focus for the upcoming year will be to continue the hard work we started and to build a road map to achieve desired breastfeeding goals and outcomes for families. The Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington would like to thank you for your continued support and we are excited to share the 2015 BCW Annual Report. 
 
 
In this month's newsletter, we are proud to feature a few local breastfeeding coalitions. We would like to continue presenting local breastfeeding efforts in the BCW newsletters and invite you to share your stories- we would love to hear from you! The BCW will devote a section in the main body of the newsletter to report on newsworthy breastfeeding happenings at the county level. Please feel free to send us coalition meetings, updates, events, and anything noteworthy. We encourage you to send photos, as well. If you would like to learn more about what is going on in or around your county, don't forget to check out our Breastfeeding Events page.
 


Wishing you a prosperous New Year,
Alex Sosa & Chris Gray
Local Breastfeeding Coalition Updates & Upcoming Meetings
If you would like to share coalition updates, meetings and events, email christineg@withinreachwa.org 

Kitsap County Breastfeeding Coalition will host their next coalition meeting on Tuesday, March 8th from 5-7 pm. Meetings are held every other month at the Orchid Conference Room at Harrison Medical Center. Address is 1800 NW Myhre Rd, Silverdale, WA 98383.

The Breastfeeding Coalition of Lewis County, in collaboration with WIC and Lewis County Public Health & Social Services, is working with Molly Pessl of Evergreen Perinatal Education, LLC to offer the course The course is being offered at a discount; it is only $25 to enroll! The following course dates are being offered:
  • March 29-30: 8 am to 5 pm, registration deadline is March 18th 
  • August 8-9:  8 am to 5 pm, registration deadline is July 28th

The Breastfeeding Coalition of Snohomish County is looking forward to a year of growth! All WIC agencies in Snohomish county are represented at meetings. Two hospital IBCLCs, one nurse manager from the the primary birthing hospital in the area, three private practice IBCLC's and one IBCLC candidate also attend meetings in addition to longtime supporters. The coalition is also working on updating their online Snohomish County Breastfeeding Resources, as well as working with Pregnancy Aid Outreach WIC and Providence Regional Medical Center on the "Partnering for Breastfeeding Success" grant. The coalition is also sponsoring New Horizons 2016 on October 20th, 2016 at Brightwater Conference Center in Woodinville, WA. This year's event will focus on hospital-based practices and features speaker Raylene Phillips, MD. Stay tuned for more updates!

South Sound Breastfeeding Network is currently preparing to host a breastfeeding conference in the second week of November 2016. They are excited to present such wonderful guest speakers: Dr. Ghaheri, who will speak on posterior tongue tie, and Katie Hinde, PhD, of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. We will share more detailed information when dates, venues and other details have been finalized!


 

St. Joseph Medical Center Lactation Department is now an official Drop Off Depot for Northwest Mother's Milk Bank


January 12, 2015

St. Joseph Medical Center is proud and excited to join Northwest Mothers Milk Bank (NWMMB), Portland, Oregon in becoming a milk drop off site for donated breastmilk.  NWMMB is the only non-profit human milk bank in the Pacific Northwest and a member of the Human Milk Banking of North America.  This partnership expands NWMMB Milk Drop sites to a total of seven in Washington State and the only one in Pierce County.

The NWMMB promotes similar principles as CHI Franciscan to work in local communities, valuing health, compassion, integrity and generosity.  This beautifully reflects our own CHI FHS values of Reverence, Integrity, Compassion and Excellence.

The Northwest Mothers Milk Bank has provided St. Joseph Neonatal Intensive Care Unit 973 ounces of breast milk to the NICU in 2015.

Becoming a Milk Drop site can make the positive difference of saving the lives of some of our most vulnerable patients, premature babies.  "Each drop of donated milk is a miracle. Research shows when the most fragile and premature infants receive breastmilk, they have a lower risk of infection and life threatening intestinal complications. They leave the intensive care unit earlier, and later in life have higher IQs and fewer developmental problems" said Dr. Isabella Knox, Neonatologist and NWMMB Medical Co-Director. NWMMB has distributed over 260,000 ounces of pasteurized milk to infants in need...

Read the rest of the announcement here. 


To learn more about Northwest Mother's Milk Bank visit the NWMMB website and view all Milk Drop Locations in Oregon and Washington here.

The California WIC Association has released the  2015 Hospital Breastfeeding Rates Fact Sheets. According to state and county fact sheets, hospital breastfeeding rates have increased by 10% since 2010, benefiting tens of thousands of mothers and babies. More California hospitals also have adopted comprehensive breastfeeding policies as part of their maternity care. The 2014 data also show that substantial improvements have been made among ethnic groups that historically have the lowest breastfeeding rates. Despite this progress, stubborn gaps remain. Read the press release.

The California WIC Association is hosting their 24th Annual Conference and Trade show on April 17th to 20th in San Diego! There will be workshops, work site wellness activities, a local agency sharing showcase, Amazing Race Scavenger Hunt and Movie Night. For more information and registration visit the 2016 Annual Conference & Trade Show webpage.

From Abt Associates in Partnerships with the CDC, Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, Population Health Improvement Partners & Baby-Friendly USA

EMPower Breastfeeding Initiative is a hospital-based quality improvement initiative that focuses on maternity practices leading to Baby-Friendly designation. The initiative is committed to increasing breastfeeding rates throughout the United States and to promoting and supporting optimal breastfeeding practices toward the ultimate goal of improving the public's health. EMPower Breastfeeding is designed to support hospitals in reaching the Baby-Friendly USA recognition. Hospitals are selected to participate based on criteria designed to address issues of equitable access to maternity care that optimally supports mothers to be able to breastfeed.

Read more about EMPower Breastfeeding on the "About Us" page and take a look at the map of hospitals participating in the program. EMPower Breastfeeding also recently launched a Facebook page. Please consider "liking" the page to support this initiative and to stay up-to-date with progress of EMPower enrolled hospitals.

   

ZERO TO THREE 2015 State Baby Facts, Toolkit and "State of America's Babies: 2015" Presentation

ZERO TO THREE puts together factsheets every year that provide information for early childhood professionals and policymakers about the status of infants, toddlers, and families in each of the 50 states. State Baby Facts present infant and toddler data that include factors such as poverty, health insurance status, immunizations, and childcare. The state-by-state factsheets compare state and national percentiles for a variety of different topics.

To view Washington State's 2015 Baby Facts, see the PDF here. ZERO TO THREE puts together a toolkit that suggests how to use State Baby Facts. It includes helpful resources and even sample social media posts to share this guide with your community. ZERO TO THREE also released State of America's Babies: 2015, a PowerPoint Presentation, that compiles all of the data collected from the 50 states into one report to capture how families and their babies or toddlers fared in 2015.

WITHINREACH BLOG

WithinReach's blog, Making Connections, is a great way to stay up to date with health and well-being issues in Washington State, as well as the work of WithinReach and its affiliated coalitions. Recent posts include:
Subscribe to Making Connections to stay in the loop!  We would also love to include guest blog posts from our coalition members; please let Alex know if you are interested in writing a post about the work of your coalition or breastfeeding support successes and concerns from your community.

Alex Sosa & Chris Gray

 

Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington

A Program of WithinReach

  

Promoting, protecting & supporting breastfeeding as a vital part
of the health and development of children and families.