Guadalupe Regional Medical Centers belongs to a select few U.S. health care facilities officially designated as Baby-Friendly Hospitals. This means that GRMC meets the highest standards for maternity care and infant feeding, according to the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.

To earn this status, GRMC hospital staff members at all levels received comprehensive training, followed by on-site evaluation by the accrediting agency, Baby-Friendly Hospital-USA. The goal of the agency’s qualifying process: to make sure we’re providing evidence-based, gold-standard care for newborns and their moms.

In attaining Baby-Friendly Hospital status, we’ve proved our commitment to these three crucial elements of optimal care:

• Promoting skin-to-skin contact. Cuddling skin-to-skin helps parents and newborns bond. It makes babies feel loved and lays the foundation for a nurturing parent-child relationship.

• Encouraging breastfeeding. Human breast milk provides the best mix of nutrients and antibodies for babies to thrive. Breastfeeding helps mothers recover from childbirth, promotes the development of a baby’s brain and nervous system, and fosters closeness between mother and child.

We’re also committed to protecting families from the promotion of breast milk substitutes, which means, among other things, that we don’t give free samples of infant formula. And we offer ongoing support for breastfeeding by referring moms to classes and groups that can help them stick with this healthful practice.

• Enabling rooming-in. Mothers and infants who are together 24 hours a day have more time for skin-to-skin contact. Moms can breastfeed their newborns on demand, which also encourages closeness and teaches babies that their needs will be met.

GRMC’s Baby-Friendly Hospital status is just one of many ways we continue to provide advanced medicine that’s delivered with a personal touch. Learn more.