Kimberly Mansen’s Post

Pacific Northwest Colleagues-- there's a great continuing education opportunity coming up on June 21 in Vancouver, WA to learn about providing compassionate care to families with infant loss (including lactation support for bereaved parents). Northwest Mothers Milk Bank just added alternative pricing structures to reduce the financial burden to attend (BOGO or 'pay what you can') to ensure all those interested in attending are able to. Hope you can make it in-person! And please help to spread the word!

Today honors all the mamas that met their baby sooner than they expected, weeks before their due date. Today honors all the mamas that expressed milk to feed their babies because their baby was too young to feed at the breast. Today honors all the health care workers and family members that support those mamas and their premature newborns to thrive. May we celebrate your impact on this #worldprematurityday. About 4.6 million #babies die in their first year of life—nearly 3 million in the first 28 days. Small and sick #newborns (SSNs) – including those born preterm, small for gestational age, and low birth weight, suffering from birth complications, or requiring hospitalization - are at greatest risk of death. Known interventions, such as the provision of human milk, are key to their survival.    To support SSNs and their mothers, a comprehensive newborn nutrition approach, with specialized maternal lactation and locally appropriate human milk banks, must be included in models that optimize care for SSNs.   Prioritizing feeding of the mother’s milk is needed, even when the baby is unable to fully feed at the breast, by supporting the mother to express early and frequently to build her milk supply.    At PATH, we are working to eliminate the gaps in systems, policies, infrastructure, and workforce capacity that keep so many mothers and babies from thriving.    Read more about our work in maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition here: https://lnkd.in/gMw8vP8e  

Proud of my colleagues working to advance early childhood development at PATH, Svetlana Drivdal, Melanie Remane Picolo, Debjeet Sen, among others! Check out and share this recent blog post about work in Mozambique for young children with disabilities.