The 2011 and 2013 Finger Lakes Regional Hospital Breastfeeding Summits brought together professionals interested in promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding. These meetings provided an environment for the dissemination of current breastfeeding information useful to clinical practice while encouraging peer networking.

The presenters shared information designed to meet the Summit Objectives which were to:

• Discuss the Joint Commission Core Measures Program for Perinatal Care.
• Explore the advantages of implementing the Baby-Friendly Hospital 10 Steps including strategies for pursuing the process.
• Summarize the challenges and barriers that may arise at the hospital level while trying to implement the Baby-Friendly 10 Steps and ideas for how to overcome them.
• Explain when to supplement a breastfed infant and discuss interventions that reduce the number of breastfed newborns who receive unnecessary formula supplementation within the first two days of life.
• Describe how to overcome your institution's challenges associated with adoption of NYSDOH Hospital Best Practices.
• Discuss facility specific breastfeeding concerns with a panel of breastfeeding experts in an open forum.
• Explore hospital, provider and community breastfeeding best practices and local, state and national support resources available during all stages of the continuum of care.
• Create an environment for learning, collaborating, and networking with colleagues.

2013 Summit Presentations

• Building Bridges & Breaking Barriers: The State of New York's Breastfeeding Rates

Stephanie Hisgen, BSN, RN;NYSDOH

• Transforming Hospital Culture to Improve Breastfeed Outcomes: Our Journey to Baby Friendly Hospital Accreditation

Linda LeMon, RN, IBCLC; Hudson Valley Hospital Center

• Growth charts and Breastfed Babies & Motivational Interviewing to Support Sustained Breastfeeding

Stephen Cook, MD, MPH, URMC, Department of Public Health Sciences

• National Breastfeeding Initiatives: Local Implications (US breastfeeding Committee; JCAHO; Birth Certificate Coding; Affordable Care Act)

Ann Dozier, RN, PhD, URMC Department of Public Health Sciences

• Breastfeeding Support and Education in the WIC Program

Amy Blodgett, MPA, RD, CLC; NYSDOH Women,Infants and Children Nutrition Program (WIC)

• Implementing the Breastfeeding Readiness Toolkit in a Family Medicine Practice

Kristin Smith, RN, BS, LC, DNP Candidate; Highland Family Medicine

• Breastfeeding Friendly Physician Offices: A Community Model

Christy Richards, RN, BSN, PHN; Ontario County DOH

2011 Summit Presentations

• Hospital Practices in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State

Marilyn A. Kacica, MD, MPH, FAAP, NY State DOH

• Using Data to Improve Performance

Ann Dozier, PhD, RN, Community & Preventive Medicine

• Templates for Changing Nursing Practice for Breastfeeding Success

Cathy Patrick RN, MSN, St Joseph's Hospital

• Discharge Planning & Post-Hospital Support

Deborah Jones, BSN, RNC-OB, Thompson Health

• Baby Friendly Initiatives

Cindy Howard- MD, MPH, Rochester General Hospital

• NICU Breastfeeding Quality Improvement Project

Kristen Brown RN, Strong NICU

• Breastfeeding and Maternity Care Practices & Breastfeeding & the Physician

Sharon Mass, MD, FACOG, Morris Town, NY