FOTCOH's first breast feeding clinic
Phillis and I held a breast feeding education class for a little over two dozen Haitian women. All were still pregnant, with the exception of one woman who came with her 5-day-old baby. For a majority of the women it was their first pregnancy.
We discussed breast feeding starting at birth, breast milk and supply, demonstrated how to hold the baby in different positions, special considerations such as illness, premature infants, etc. as well as nutrition. We also stressed the importance of exclusively breast feeding for the first six months of the child's life, which is often not the case down here. One of the big hits of the class was when the women got to practice the different breast feeding positions with dolls.
The women told us they enjoyed the class and asked very appropriate questions. Some of the questions were related to the cultural beliefs they have about breast feeding.
It was an amazing opportunity to provide this education to the women. We learned several lessons from presenting the class and have many ideas for FOTCOH on how they can continue this education with future teams.
-- Phillis Dewitt and Sue Behrens
Posted
by Leigh
