Overview: Maternity Care Practices
Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC)
CDC’s 2024 national survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) launched in January!
The 2024 mPINC survey will include all hospitals in U.S. states and territories that provide maternity care services. Similar to past surveys, screening phone calls will be made to hospitals on a rolling basis. These screening phone calls will be used to (1) determine whether a hospital is eligible to complete the survey, and (2) obtain the email address for the best point of contact to receive an email with a hospital-specific link to the survey. The survey will be online only. Learn more.
La encuesta nacional de los CDC sobre las Prácticas de Nutrición y Cuidados Infantiles en Maternidades (mPINC) del 2024 comenzó en enero!
La encuesta sobre las mPINC del 2024 incluirá a todos los hospitales en los estados y territorios de los EE. UU. que brinden servicios de atención médica de maternidad. De forma similar a encuestas anteriores, se harán llamadas telefónicas de preselección a los hospitales en forma continua. Estas llamadas de preselección se usarán para (1) determinar si un hospital es elegible para completar la encuesta, y (2) obtener la dirección de correo electrónico de la persona de contacto más indicada para recibir un mensaje con un enlace a la encuesta específico para cada hospital. La encuesta solo se hará en línea. Infórmese más.
In the United States, nearly all infants are born in a hospital. Their stay is typically very short, but events during this time have lasting effects. Experiences with breastfeeding in the first hours and days of life significantly influence an infant’s later feeding. Several key supportive hospital practices can improve breastfeeding outcomes. Birth facility policies and practices that create a supportive environment for breastfeeding begin prenatally and continue through discharge, and include:
- Hospital policies—Written hospital policies support breastfeeding and are communicated to staff and patients.
- Staff training—Hospital requires breastfeeding education, clinical training, and competency verification for all maternity staff who work with breastfeeding families.
- Immediate skin-to-skin contact—Babies are placed skin-to-skin with their mothers immediately after birth, with no bedding or clothing between them, allowing enough uninterrupted time (at least 1 hour) for mother and baby to start breastfeeding well.
- Early and frequent breastfeeding—Hospital staff help mothers and babies start breastfeeding as soon as possible after birth, with many opportunities to practice throughout the hospital stay.
- Teaching about breastfeeding—Hospital staff teach families how to breastfeed and to recognize and respond to baby’s feeding cues.
- Exclusive breastfeeding—Hospital staff follow current evidence-based protocols for breastfeeding infants, and provide supplementary feedings only when medically necessary.
- Rooming-in—Hospital staff encourage mothers and babies to room together and teach families the benefits of this kind of close contact, including more opportunities to practice breastfeeding and learn their infant’s feeding cues.
- Follow-up after discharge—Hospital staff schedule follow-up visits for mothers and babies after they go home and connect families to community breastfeeding resources.