The Queens Health Coalition (QHC), in partnership with the Queens Regional Perinatal Center, hosted their annual event featuring the advantages of breastfeeding for both baby and mother.
With more than 50 health professionals in attendance at Flushing Hospital, speakers addressed the scientific evidence backing the many pluses to the developing baby, while also emphasizing the tremendous emotional bond that breastfeeding helps to produce.
The health care providers encouraged mothers-to-be to breastfeed and to know their rights, especially in the workplace, where, by law, they cannot be denied an area to engage in the practice. The audience also heard from a mother who breastfed her four children. She described the need for professional and community support for new moms.
“Just as we want the new mother to provide a nurturing environment for her newborn, health care providers must nurture her to understand the benefits of breastfeeding to her own well being and the overall health of her child,” said Phyllis Shafran, Executive Director of QHC.
“She needs to feel comfortable and knowledgeable with the process, and be convinced of the medical, emotional and economic advantages that breastfeeding can provide. As natural and time-tested that breastfeeding is, the modern mom needs to know something new about something old, so that she is enlightened and enthused to try something her grandmother did.”
For more information on breastfeeding and other health-related matters, call the Queens Health Coalition at 718-762-0346.
