NASHVILLE (AP/WATE) - New Tennessee mothers will be hearing more about breast-feeding from 16 hospital teams around the state.
The project from the Tennessee Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care aims to increase by 10 percent the number of newborns who are exclusively breast-fed when they leave the hospital.
The program launched last month during a meeting at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to share techniques developed by pilot participants at hospitals in Tipton, Shelby and Davidson counties.
East Tennessee Children's Hospital and UT Medical Center are Knoxville hospitals participating in the project.
The program encourages breast-feeding by educating mothers on its benefits and creating a two-hour afternoon quiet time for that limits visitors and hospital interruptions for new mothers and babies. Currently about half the infants leaving that hospital are breast-fed only.
Studies show breast-feeding can reduce obesity, diabetes, certain cancers and sudden infant death syndrome.
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