St. Clair Hospital Celebrates World Breastfeeding Week

 is gearing up to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, which begins on Monday.

In honor of the week, the hospital will be selling the Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump and the Medela Hands Free Breast Pump
for 25 percent off of the retail prices, which are $279.99 and $379.99, respectively.

In addition, all breastfeeding and pumping accessories, including nursing pillows, comfort gel pads, storage bags, and pump shields, will be sold at 20 percent off of the retail price. The sale also applies to apparel items, such as baby sleep sacks, nursing bras and nursing tank tops.

Raffles also will take place throughout the week and will be offered to mothers who give birth between Aug. 1-7. The grand prize will be a Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump. Other prizes include Medela hand pumps and breast pump gift sets.

The hospital also offers prenatal breastfeeding classes that are taught by board certified lactation consultants. The classes are designed to address common misconceptions about breastfeeding and provide evidenced-based information about breastfeeding techniques.

“Many women hear scary stories about breastfeeding from their mothers, friends and other family members that they believe are the whole truth, when in reality, they may not be getting all of the facts,” said Michele Zimmerman, lactation consultant at St. Clair. “Our goal with the classes is to provide them with all of the information they need to make informed decisions about breastfeeding and the proven techniques that will help enable them to be successful.”

The classes take place once or twice a month at a cost of $40 for mothers and $50 for couples.

In addition, the hospital offers outpatient breastfeeding consultations. These are designed for mothers who may be having a difficult time breastfeeding her baby and provide an opportunity for hands-on help to get the mother back on track.

“During these consultations, we will weigh the baby before and after a feeding to monitor how much he ate, evaluate the baby’s latch onto the mother’s breast, and offer any other kind of assistance that will  help make breastfeeding an enjoyable and comfortable experience for mother and baby,” Zimmerman said.

The cost of the consultations is $50.

Women do not need to have given birth at St. Clair to participate in sale, the prenatal breastfeeding classes or the outpatient consultations. For more information or to make an appointment with a lactation consultant, call 412-942-5875, or visit the website at www.stclair.org. 

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated in more than 170 countries. This year’s theme is “Talk to Me! Breastfeeding – A 3D Experience,”
and will focus on communication as an essential part of protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding. The theme places special emphasis on the use of new communication channels to broaden our horizons and spread breastfeeding information beyond our immediate time and place.