Hospitals and Babies, Then and Now

While there are very few baby-friendly hospitals compared to the total number in the world, whenever one more hospital gets its baby-friendly status, it's time to celebrate. 

St. Joseph Hospital in Orange County, California recently received it's baby-friendly distinction from UNICEF and the World Health Organization. I applaud their efforts to provide a healthy start to Orange county moms and their babies. In fact, four other hospitals and birth centers also received their baby-friendly honor recently. You can see a full list of baby-friednly hospitals and birth centers at www.babyfriendlyusa.org/eng/03.html

You would think that all hospitals would be baby-friendly. It's only logical. But there are decades old behaviors that are hard to overcome without a detailed plan, dedicated people and a concerted effort. 

Take, for instance, the picture below from a hospital in 1942.

It is formula for the babies in the nursery at the Cairns General Hospital at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) farm workers' community. Eleven Mile Corner, Arizona.

Also, take into consideration this photo from November 1942.

Nurse training. Just as they take biology and chemistry, students of nursing "take babies" as the young nurses say. Here Susan learns how to give a baby one of his first meals.

While these photos are over fifty years old, they are still quite relevant today. It's hard to stop a horse when it's already out the barn. But there are those out there who are trying to do what's in the best interest of the baby by touting and recommending the many and varied benefits of breastfeeding. 

Let's just hope more hospitals and birth centers seek their baby-friendly distinction as well, no matter how difficult it may be or how impractical it may seem. 

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF34-071909-D DLC] 

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USE6-D-006949 DLC]