Breastfeeding Information

Baby Cafe alle

Survey Says……The Geneva Baby Café Will Open Soon!

The community spoke and we listened! 68% of mothers surveyed reported that if Geneva had a place to hang out, receive accurate health information and free breastfeeding help they would attend. As a result, the Geneva Baby Café will open its doors on September 3, 2019.  The Geneva Baby Café is housed and maintained by Child & Family Resources on 671 South Exchange Street in Geneva and is held every first and third Tuesdays from 10:00-11:30am.

Baby Cafés are staffed with Clinical Lactation Counselors (CLC’s) to help mothers in every stage of their parenting journey. CLC’s are available to offer encouragement and answer breastfeeding and parenting questions.

Why support breastfeeding? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), infants who are breastfed have lower risks of asthma, obesity, type 2 diabetes ear and respiratory infections, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), diarrhea and vomiting. Breastfeeding mothers have a lower risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes even certain types of cancer like ovarian and breast cancers. Breastfeeding is an important way to lower chronic disease rates.

Why open a Baby Café in Geneva? In Ontario County, the percentage of infants fed only breast milk in the hospital is 64.5% (New York State Department of Health, 2016). In the city of Geneva that number falls to 47.3% (New York State Prevention Agenda Dashboard - County Level: Ontario County, 2013-2016). Baby Cafés utilize CLC’s to help make breastfeeding easier for local mothers.

The Geneva Baby Café is an outcome of the collaborative efforts of The Finger Lakes Breastfeeding Partnership, Child & Family Resources and Ontario County Health Collaborative. We have offered a Baby Café in Canandaigua for years. We are pleased to now offer it to the Geneva community.  Both the Canandaigua and the Geneva Baby Cafés are a direct result of the Community Health Improvement Plan being implemented by partners of Ontario County Public Health and the Ontario County Health Collaborative. A grand opening celebration is planned for  Tuesday August 20th, 10:00-11:00, at the Geneva Visitors Center (Conference Room) located at 35 Lake Front Drive, Geneva, NY 14456.

Questions about Breastfeeding?

Check out Your Guide to Breastfeeding, a publication of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Women's Health. Available in English; Spanish (Guia Facil Lactancia-Espanol); and Chinese.

What are the benefits of breastfeeding?

If 90% of mothers breastfed their babies until the age of 6-months, in a year the U. S. would save 13 billion dollars in health care costs. More importantly, the lives of 911 babies would be saved. Read further for other facts about breastfeeding.

What happens when I have to go back to work?
Many moms must return to work within a few weeks of delivery. Some stop breastfeeding because they think pumping at work is not possible. Encourage your workplace to have policies that address this issue. Women are entitled to time to express breast milk and a private place where this can be accomplished. For more information about the rights of breastfeeding mothers at work see Break Time for Nursing Mothers. Tool boxes are available via the internet to help employers develop breast feeding policies.

Where can I go to get reliable information about breastfeeding?

It's Only Natural; The US Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health breastfeeding website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has valuable information on breastfeeding.
The New York State Department of Health has many links to other reliable sources of information about breastfeeding.
Click here if you are interested in being a breastfeeding advocate in your workplace or community.
(Updated 7/27/2018)