Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi Earns Prestigious Baby-Friendly Birth Designation

Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi has received prestigious international recognition as a Designated Baby-Friendly birth facility.

Baptist North Mississippi is one of five Baby-Friendly facilities in the state of Mississippi. Photo by Talbert Toole.

Baby-Friendly USA, Inc. has designated Baptist a Baby-Friendly facility for its commitment to encouraging new mothers to breastfeed their babies. An abundance of scientific evidence points to lower risks for certain diseases and improved health outcomes for both mothers and babies who breastfeed.

The initiative encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding mothers and their babies. Based on the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, this prestigious international award recognizes birth facilities that offer breastfeeding mothers the information, confidence, and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies.

“Earning Baby-Friendly designation is a great achievement and one that Baptist is extremely proud of,” said Bill Henning, administrator and chief executive officer of BMH-NM. “Our team went through extensive training to learn how best to support new families in infant feeding. Without their hard work and dedication this accomplishment would not have been possible.”

As part of the Baby-Friendly initiative, healthy newborns at Baptist North Mississippi are placed immediately on their mothers at birth for skin-to-skin contact. Babies are not interrupted for unnecessary medical procedures as they bond with their mothers and make their first feeding attempts.

Baptist North Mississippi is one of five Baby-Friendly facilities in the state of Mississippi.

“Recognition as a Baby-Friendly facility demonstrates our team’s commitment to providing evidence-based maternity care with the goal of achieving optimal infant feeding, as well as strengthening the bond between mother and baby,” said Mark Ottens, chief nursing officer at BMH-NM. “The Baby-Friendly assessment team’s rigorous review of our program is another confirmation that we are delivering the highest standard of care to our new mothers.”

Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi press release