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  1. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  2. Get Healthy
  3. Wellbeing at UAMS
  4. Physical Wellbeing
  5. Breastfeeding Initiatives at UAMS

Breastfeeding Initiatives at UAMS

Designated Spaces

UAMS – LR designated spaces:Mom and Baby
–IDW room 229, this room is available 24/7 to all UAMS employees and students.
–Two Mamava Breastfeeding pods are available on campus 24/7:
One on the first floor of the Rahn building in the break room area and the second is on the first floor of the Main Hospital near the Lobby Gallery as you walk towards PRI indoors. Download the Mamava App for the location, code for entry and to see if it is currently occupied.

UAMS – NW has two designated Lactation Rooms:
Lobby Level, rooms 2-24 (by the vending machines)
4th Floor, room 4120

More options available by building below! Reach out to the building contact for access instructions.

Building Contacts – Find the Best Space Near You!

BuildingBuilding ContactPhone
Cancer Institute & Walter AnnexAmy J Jenkins501-526-6000
Central BuildingTheresa Overholt501-603-1522
Spine InstituteDanele Poole501-526-5092
Institute on AgingSuzy Sun501-603-1972
Eye InstituteMegan Brown501-686-5822
Psychiatric Research InstituteKen Hall501-526-8603
RAHN/COPHSummer Mote501-686-5060
Biomed I & IIMickey Thomas501-686-7418
OPCTerry Crutchfield501-603-1741
Admin West, & CHPPhyllis Fields501-686-6856
Ed II & I. Dodd WilsonSummer Mote501-686-5060
Patient Tower & Ward TowerTheresa Overholt501-603-1522
ACH Campus in ACNC (Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center)Audry Martinez501-364-5057
Northwest Regional CampusLaura Williams479-713-5115
TOSHTracey Barron501-231-2595
ROCMegan Mary Meckling501-526-7061
OthersTheresa Overholt501-603-1522
Due to space limitations, UAMS is unable to provide a permanently designated lactation room in each campus building. In order to support our employees and students, this is a list of building contacts who can assist when an employee/student temporarily needs a private room near her work-place or meeting room.

Breastfeeding Initiatives at UAMS

The Breast feeding Initiative task force worked to develop a policy to allow time for breast feeding mothers to pump at work. That policy was approved this spring and is in the HR section in compliance 360. UAMS has developed a list of on-site coordinators to help our breastfeeding mom’s find a place to pump close to where they are.

UAMS Designated Baby Friendly for Encouraging Breastfeeding

UAMS Medical Center is the only hospital in central Arkansas to have received international recognition as “baby friendly” for its policies and procedures encouraging new mothers to breastfeed as a healthier way to feed their babies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative in 1991 as a global program to assist hospitals in giving all mothers the information, confidence and skills necessary to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) delivers more than 3,000 babies a year. To achieve the baby-friendly designation, UAMS completed rigorous requirements in each of four phases and passed an on-site assessment.

 

The effort was initiated by Ginny Smith, R.N., M.S.N., women and infants nursing director, and neonatologist Misty Virmani, M.D., and led by Becky Sartini, D.N.P., assistant director of nursing for the neonatal intensive care unit.

“This shows that UAMS stands behind evidence-based efforts to promote breastfeeding,” said Sartini. “Breastfeeding is the foundation for a healthier life, not just for the baby but for the mother.”

Breastmilk contains antibodies that help babies fight off viruses and bacteria, reduces the risk of developing allergies and respiratory illnesses and lowers the risk of obesity. For the mother, breastfeeding lowers the risk of breast and ovarian cancer and osteoporosis.

UAMS Medical Center joins five other hospitals across the state in obtaining the baby friendly designation, awarded by Baby-Friendly USA Inc., the accrediting body for the hospital initiative.

The baby-friendly designation requires verification of policies, curriculum, action plans, quality improvement projects, staff training, competency verification, a readiness interview and an on-site survey.

“We had to train 350 physicians and nurses and had to build training modules going forward,” said Smith. “I am very proud because I know all the hard work people put into this.”

Breastfeeding is one of nine priority areas of Healthy Active Arkansas, a 10-year plan announced in 2015 by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to provide community-based efforts to reduce obesity. UAMS co-chairs the plan’s breastfeeding committee with Baptist Health.

Hospitals provide a unique and critical link between the breastfeeding support provided before and after delivery. Mothers who give birth at baby-friendly hospitals and birthing centers are more likely to initiate exclusive breastfeeding and more likely to sustain breastfeeding at six months and one year of age.

The Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative encourages maternity facilities throughout the world to adhere to the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding:

  1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
  2. Train all health care staff in the skills necessary to implement this policy.
  3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
  4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
  5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
  6. Give infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated.
  7. Practice rooming in – allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.
  8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
  9. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
  10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or birth center.

Adhering to the Ten Steps is associated with increased rates of breastfeeding around the world. Also, adhering to the Ten Steps decreases racial, ethnic and socio-cultural disparities in breastfeeding rates in U.S. hospitals.

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Mailing Address: 4301 West Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72205
Phone: (501) 686-7000
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