August is National Breastfeeding Month, and Covenant Health shared some options they have available for moms who want some support.
Covenant offers monthly breastfeeding support groups. These meetings allow mothers a chance to gather and not only ask a lactation specialist questions, but also talk to each other about their struggles and successes.
“Every month we would talk about a different topic, and each month my needs and my babies needs changed a little bit,” Stacey Spradling said.
Spradling is a mother to a 9 month old daughter and a registered nurse at Covenant. She took advantage of the support group.
“They had a topic they would teach us about, but it was really a time for every mom to ask questions and get support from other moms who have maybe gone through something like you did,” Spradling said.
“They get together and talk about breast feeding, they help each other, whether it’s just support with questions or concerns, or they share their success with each other,” Shannon Mims-Cepica said. She’s a registered nurse at Covenant, as well as a lactation specialist.
Covenant is also a mother-friendly workplace.
“We promote, and protect, and provide and opportunity for moms to be able to pump and provide breastmilk for their babies once they return to work, because sometimes that can be challenging, it can be very stressful, and big concerns for moms because they have goals, and they want to be able to continue to meet those goals,” Mims-Cepica said.
Covenant has rooms in their buildings that are specially set aside as a place for mothers to pump while they work.
“I would say know what your resources are. Covenant has been an amazing place on how they treat new moms and how they do their education, they really want you to be successful,” Spradling said.
The breastfeeding support group meets the first Thursday of every month at noon at Covenant Women’s and Children’s. More information about the group can be found here, on Covenant’s website.
