Dean Meza doesn’t know it yet but his mother is providing him with the opportunity to grow up healthy. Miriam Meza-Jimenez is breast-feeding. “I know how important it is for me to breast-feed him,” said Meza-Jimenez, who gave birth to Dean on Aug. 24 at Las Palmas Medical Center. “I want him to be as healthy as he can be and this is the first step.”
Meza-Jimenez is ahead of the game when it comes to the education she is receiving at the new Las Palmas Newborn and Breastfeeding Care Clinic. “We try really hard to start breast-feeding from the beginning,” said Rhonda Sparr, the breast-feeding learning collaborative project manager. “What I mean by that is it starts with the labor and delivery department with skin-to-skin contact.”
There are a number of studies that show that mothers and babies should be together, skin to skin (baby naked, not wrapped in a blanket) immediately after birth and beyond. The baby’s temperature is more stable and normal, the baby’s heart and breathing rates are more stable and more normal, and the baby’s blood sugar is more elevated.
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Website: www.elpasotimes.com/living/ci_28729124/smart-start