The Hospital Advocacy Project was designed to help moms know their rights and
empower them to request these rights when they are in the
hospital.
Ideally, all hospitals should have breastfeeding friendly and
evidence based practices. As a first step, we want to help administration
understand how women feel about their birth experience.
Consumers play a
large part in changing practices. With the "Breastfeeding Bill of
Rights", mothers will know their rights when they enter the hospital to give
birth. The "Hospital Experience - Pleased" Letter and "Hospital
Experience - Disappointed" Letter gives moms a quick and easy way to let the
hospital know what their birth experience was like -- did it meet their
expectations or were they disappointed?
Breastfeeding Bill of Rights
The Breastfeeding Bill of Rights sets out "rights" a woman can request and
expect during her hospital stay and delivery.
Hospital Experience - Pleased Letter -- a comment letter for mom to return
to the hospital describing the breastfeeding support, education and care she
received during the birth of her baby.
Hospital Experience - Disappointed Letter -- a comment
letter for mom to return to the hospital describing her dis-satisfaction with
the breastfeeding support, education and care she received druing the birth of
her baby.
We encourage you to make the Breastfeeding Bill of rights and Hospital Experience Letters available to moms in your classes, practices, community events, breastfeeding fairs, "rock & rest" stations, etc.
Encourage moms to fill out the appropriate letter and mail back to the hospital where she delivered her baby. Or collect the letters and mail them from your agency or task force. Help moms make their voices heard!
We hope that this will show hospital adminstrators that lactation consultants, knowledgeable staff and breastfeeding friendly practices are valued by moms and families using their hospital services.
