Breastfeeding Counseling Clinic

As part of our baby breastfeeding counseling services, a Breastfeeding Counseling Clinic has been opened at our baby-friendly hospital to provide breastfeeding counseling to pregnant women at 32 weeks and beyond and to new mothers.

At this clinic, an experienced breastfeeding counselor provides guidance on newborn breastfeeding techniques, breastfeeding duration, increasing breast milk supply, breast care problems, expressing and storing breast milk, and resolving common breastfeeding difficulties.

Correct Breastfeeding Techniques and Breastfeeding Positions

• The baby's body is turned toward the mother.
• The baby's body is held close to the mother.
• The baby's whole body is supported.
• The baby's neck is straight or tilted slightly back.
• The mother should rest her fingers against the chest wall below the breast, supporting the breast with four fingers underneath. The thumb should be on the upper part of the breast, and the fingers should be kept away from the nipple.
• The baby should be latched onto the breast when it opens its mouth wide. This way, the baby takes not only the nipple but also the areola into its mouth and draws milk from the breast correctly.

Breast milk is the best food for your baby. Give your baby only breast milk for the first 6 months. Breastfeeding with the correct technique minimizes nipple problems. Mothers who breastfeed their babies with the correct technique have plenty of milk and healthy babies.

Mothers who breastfeed their babies with the correct technique have plenty of milk and healthy babies.

At the Baby Breastfeeding Counseling Clinic:

• The importance of breast milk
• My milk isn't coming in
• My baby won't nurse
• Breastfeeding correctly
• Sore and cracked nipples
• Delayed milk production after birth
• My breasts are engorged and I can't breastfeed
• I have flat or inverted nipples

For answers to these and many other questions about breast milk and breastfeeding, you can visit the İzmir Özel Can Hastanesi Breastfeeding Counseling Clinic.

Breastfeeding Counselor - Aylin Akdemir

İstanbul Gedik University Breastfeeding Counseling Certificate (CPD Accredited)

TEN STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL BREASTFEEDING

1. A breastfeeding policy is established at the facility to protect, promote and support breast milk and breastfeeding.
   a) The “International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes” and
   the relevant World Health Assembly resolutions are fully complied with.
   b) A written “infant feeding policy” is established and routinely communicated to
   staff and parents.
   c) Ongoing monitoring and data management systems are established.
2. Staff are ensured to have the knowledge, competence and skills needed to support mothers with breastfeeding.
   Key Clinical Practices
3. Pregnant women and their families are informed about the importance and management of breastfeeding.
4. Mothers are supported to establish skin-to-skin contact with their babies as soon as possible after birth, to start breastfeeding as early as possible and to maintain uninterrupted contact.
5. Mothers are supported in initiating and maintaining breastfeeding and in managing common difficulties.
6. Unless medically indicated, newborns are not given any food or fluids other than breast milk.
7. Mothers and their babies are kept together and allowed to stay in the same room 24 hours a day.
8. Mothers are supported in recognizing and responding to their babies' feeding cues.
9. Mothers are counseled on the use and risks of bottles and pacifiers.
10. Before discharge, parents are informed about centers where they and their babies can access ongoing breastfeeding support and care.
    **The Steps to Successful Breastfeeding should be used as a standard for evaluating the services provided in all health facilities.

Our Breastfeeding Policy

1. A written breastfeeding policy has been established and is regularly communicated to all health personnel working in departments serving pregnant women, postpartum mothers and babies, as well as to all other hospital employees.
2. A training program has been prepared to provide, first and foremost, health personnel working in the relevant departments and all other hospital staff with the knowledge and skills required by the policy. Training under this program is held regularly.
3. All pregnant women receiving care at our hospital are informed about breastfeeding, breast milk and the benefits of breastfeeding.
4. At our hospital, our health personnel provide mothers with the necessary education and professional support to start breastfeeding within half an hour to one hour after birth.
5. Mothers who give birth at our hospital and/or who are separated from their babies for various reasons receive hands-on training on breastfeeding techniques, expressing and storing breast milk, and methods of feeding breast milk, and the effectiveness of this training is evaluated.
6. For babies aged 0-6 months who come to our hospital, exclusive breastfeeding is recommended unless otherwise medically indicated.
7. After birth, mother and baby stay in the same room 24 hours a day so that they can easily maintain visual and skin-to-skin contact. They are not allowed to stay in separate rooms except for health reasons.
8. Mothers are encouraged to breastfeed their babies frequently (on demand). There is no time limit for breastfeeding.
9. Bottles and pacifiers are not accepted at our hospital, and mothers and other family members are educated not to give them to babies.
10. Before discharge, all mothers who gave birth at our hospital are educated on continuing to breastfeed after discharge, solutions to possible problems and the health facilities they can turn to.
11. At our hospital, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers are not given posters, banners, equipment, brochures or gifts bearing breast-milk substitute brands or promoting the use of breast-milk substitutes.
12. A breastfeeding room has been set up on the ground floor so that mothers can breastfeed comfortably.
13. Appropriate complementary foods are introduced after the sixth month, and breastfeeding is encouraged up to 2 years of age and beyond.
14. This institution adopts “Baby-Friendly Hospital and Proper Breast Milk Practices” and aims for every newborn to be healthy.
15. The “International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes” on the marketing of infant formula has been adopted and is implemented in all units of our hospital.