Holiday Baby Fair

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Sunday evening Baptist Memorial Hospital hosted its third annual Baby Fair.

The fair was a learning opportunity for parents to receive helpful information as they prepare to enter into parenthood.

They received information on topics such as infant care, breastfeeding and skin to skin delivery.
As these expecting mothers prepare to embark upon their new journey into motherhood, it can sometimes be an overwhelming feeling.

“All patients have a little fear of the unknown, their walking into a situation to have an even occur, and they’ve never seen it before, they don’t know what it looks like, and they might have some questions,” director of women’s services Susan Spencer said.

Thankfully for them, the answers to all of those questions were provided by the nurses at BMC during its Holiday Baby Fair.

The nurses discussed various topics such as Skin to Skin Delivery.

“The skin to skin establishes a bond between the mother and the baby that’s like no other,” Spencer said.

Skin to Skin delivery is where the new born rests on his mothers chest immediately after being delivered.

Nurses believe this can automatically leads to breastfeeding.

“A lot of moms find it helpful to do skin to skin while they’re breastfeeding, it helps stimulates all of the baby’s reflexes,” Le Leche League Leader Christina Chunn said.

Chunn recommends breastfeeding over the bottle, and says breastfeeding comes with health benefits for both the mother and the infant.

“It’s a supply and demand, the more you put the baby to the breast, the more milk you make,” she said. “It’s very hard to put a newborn on a schedule, pretty much trying to do a schedule in the first few weeks is a recipe for breastfeeding failure.”

The fair also provided information on creating a safe environment for infants to sleep in.

“Basically the ABC’s of safe sleep,” registered nurse Charlsey Ruffin said.  “The baby is alone, on their back, in an empty crib, and in a smoke free environment. So we recommend not using pillows, loose blankets, bumper pads, stuffed animals in the crib with the baby.”

Susan Spencer is the Director of Women’s Services at the hospital, and she offered one final piece of advice for maternal mothers this holiday season.

“Staying warm and staying hydrated, and not overeating because you’re already pregnant,” she said.
Baptist Memorial Hospital offers monthly Child Birth Classes on Tuesday evenings at 6 P-M.

To register, call the hospital at 662-386-5592