Breastfeeding Support

Mon Health Medical Center promotes, protects and supports breastfeeding. We follow the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization’s guidelines and recommend exclusive breastfeeding. 

Baby-Friendly USA, a World Health Organization sponsored program, approved Mon Health Medical Center as West Virginia’s first Baby-Friendly designated birth facility.

To achieve the international, prestigious recognition, Mon Health Family Birth Center demonstrated that it consistently follows the "10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding."

1A. Comply fully with the International code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and relevant World Health Assembly resolutions.
1B. Have a written infant feeding policy that is routinely communicated to staff and parents.
1C. Establish ongoing monitoring and data management systems.
2. Ensure that staff have sufficient knowledge, competence, and skills to support breastfeeding. 
3. Discuss the importance and management of breastfeeding with pregnant women and their families. 
4. Facilitate immediate and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact and support mothers to initiate breastfeeding as soon as possible after birth. 
5. Support mothers to initiate and maintain breastfeeding and manage common difficulties.
6. Do not provide breastfed newborns any food or fluids other than breastmilk, unless medically indicated.
7. Enable mothers and their infants to remain together and to practice rooming-in 24 hours a day. 
8. Support mothers to recognize and respond to their infants’ cues for feeding.
9. Counsel mothers on the use and risks of feeding bottles, teats, and pacifiers.
10. Coordinate discharge so that parents and their infants have timely access to ongoing support and care. 

Our breastfeeding class helps empower families to know when breastfeeding is going well or when they may need more assistance.

After birth, our educated staff helps with breastfeeding to ensure that your breastfeeding experience is off to a positive start.  If you have questions or problems, you may ask to speak with a Lactation Consultant.  

Mon Health's commitment to breastfeeding does not end when you leave the hospital.  If you have questions, concerns or difficulties, you can call and speak with a Lactation Consultant as an outpatient. 

Mon Health's devotion to breastfeeding continues to grow.  All of our nursing staff receives breastfeeding orientation and continuing education. 

Please contact the Mon Health Family Birth Center with questions or concerns:
304-598-1616