~ by Sadie Wych, MPH, CLC, Project Coordinator, HealthConnect One
How well do hospitals support breastfeeding families? There’s a test for that! Did you know?
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has administered the “mPinc” (Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care) three times since 2007 (2007, 2009, 2011) to maternity hospitals, to assess how well hospital practices support breastfeeding families. They now want to know: Does it help?
We say: YES!
In Illinois, the overall score improved from 60 in 2007 to 63 in 2009, and climbed to 66 by 2011. The increase is encouraging but given that this score is out of 100, we still have far to go to fully support Illinois’ breastfeeding families in our maternity hospitals. But how would we know where to focus our attention if the mPinc did not exist?
The highest jump in scores was in labor and delivery care (48 to 57 to 62), reflecting an increase in breastfeeding-supportive practices such as breastfeeding initiation and skin to skin within the first hour after birth. We want this information!
Other areas of improvement include the feeding of breastfed infants (74 to 79 to 80) and contact between mother and infant (64 to 68 to 72). These practices ensure that the initial feeding of an infant is breast milk and that mothers and infants are kept together as much as possible.
In Illinois, the practice that continues to need improvement is the appropriate use of breastfeeding supplements. Only 19% of maternity hospitals correctly follow guidelines for appropriate use of supplementation with breastfeeding infants.
The mPinc helps paint a broad strokes picture of how well maternity hospitals support breastfeeding. If the CDC stopped administering the mPinc, we would not be able to celebrate the progress that has been made and we would not be able to identify what improvements need to be worked on next.
Won’t you help SAVE the mPinc? Periodically, the data collection tools used by the federal government are assessed, and there is a period for public comment.
The deadline for public comment on the mPinc is April 13, 2013.
Can you help?
The following comes from the
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and PreventionClick here for the full notice.
In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. …end comments to Kimberly Lane, 1600 Clifton Road, MS D–74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an email to omb@cdc.gov.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Written comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.
If you want to help your local hospital become baby-friendly:
HealthConnect One’s Hospital Breastfeeding Toolkit is designed to help guide hospitals through implementation of breastfeeding supportive maternity care practices, and you can access the full toolkit here.
