ZipMilk is a community service of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition, providing listings for breastfeeding resources based on zipcode. Check it out here!

MHQP has released new guidelines for perinatal care, emphasizing the importance of counseling woman about breastfeeding. The new guidelines call on obstetrical care providers to discuss feeding plans throughout prenatal care, and includes a patient handout on the benefits of breastfeeding.

Telephone triage tool for neonates

Download the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition's new telephone triage tool designed especially for neonates.

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The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has released a new special report on breastfeeding in the Jan-Feb 2007 issue of ACOG Clinical Review. View report (click here).

Parents may appreciate a free gift, but the bags promote sales of formula at the expense of breastfeeding. Read More.

Read the sections relevant to breastfeeding in the revised regulations, released February 2006.

Review this 2006 Report Card of Massachusetts Hospitals breastfeeding rates, and learn which hospitals distribute commercial discharge bags. Read More.

Patient Handouts:

Download our FREE one-page handouts for patients:

Give new and expectant parents 10 easy steps for breastfeeding success with MBC's FREE one-page handout. Learn more. Click on thumbnail to download.

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Help parents learn how skin to skin contact gives important benefits for babies and mothers. Download our FREE 1 page handouts.

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Discharge instructions and breastfeeding checklist

Give your patients a one-page summary of all they need to know when they go home, including instructions on safe co-sleeping. The breastfeeding checklist, designed for your patients, advises mothers of newborns of the signs that show their babies are nursing normally, and when to seek help from a pediatrician or a lactation consultant.

Discharge instructions		Breastfeeding                 checklist
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The Best Start: a guideline for birth to 48 hours.

Download pdf reader (Adobe)

Approach to Early Breastfeeding: a guideline for 48 hours to 2 weeks.

Download pdf reader (Adobe)

Includes handheld info for Approach to Early Breastfeeding, medication info, and much more. Learn More

For parents with questions about breastfeeding, browse the coalition's frequently asked question archive. Learn More.

How can you and your hospital help get breastfeeding off to the right start? The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative details ten steps to a breastfeeding-friendly health care system. Learn More.

Obstetricians, midwives, family practitioners and pediatricians have enormous power to help women breastfeed successfully. Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC, offers ten steps to a breastfeeding-friendly obstetrics and pediatrics practices.

Help your patients make an informed feeding decision during pregnancy, by incorporating a few questions into your routine visits. Learn More.

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is a worldwide organization of physicians dedicated to the promotion, protection, and support of breastfeeding. It is based in the US.

The ABM has developed 12 clinical protocols. The protocols may be found on the ABM website (click here).

The World Health Organization released new growth charts for breastfed children in April 2006. Learn more

Take our new Provider Quiz! Health care providers, test your breastfeeding know-how.

View the results of MBC's Maternity Nurse Manager survey, published in 2006 in Maternal and Child Health. Learn more about the study results.

Also, read the abstract on PubMed.

Find out what is covered in Massachusetts. Read More.

Learn about how to donate and use banked human milk. Read More.

For info on Medications, view our medication page, complete with links to resources.

Distributed annually to more than 1000 providers in the Commonwealth, the Breastfeeding Resource Guide includes information on breastfeeding support, materials for patient education, and resources for providers who want to learn more about lactation management. Much of the guide is available online, and providers can order free printed copies for their offices. Learn More

The Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy has compiled maternity statistics on all the hospitals in the state, including rates of breastfeeding at hospital discharge, available here. As you review these statistics, bear in mind that nationally, breastfeeding rates are higher among wealthier populations, and lower among poorer populations. A hospital's rate may reflect these trends, rather than how well it supports breastfeeding. The best way to measure how well a hospital supports breastfeeding is to measure later breastfeeding rates, such as at two months or four months, as breastfeeding rates tend to drop dramatically in the first two weeks. We do not have statistics for these later breastfeeding rates.

Click here to download AAP's document for free.