SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — This week is world breastfeeding week, and it has local experts raising awareness about the benefits breastfeeding provides.
Alia Robison gave birth to her first child, Tatum, just five months ago. Tatum joined the world three and a half weeks early, leaving Alia with some concerns about her feeding options.
“She ended up with jaundice and they had me pumping in the hospital and giving her an ounce after every feeding in a bottle. And so, yeah, worried us initially,” Alia said.
After being cleared to go home with her new daughter, Alia was able to exclusively breastfeed– something she knew she wanted to do before even becoming pregnant.
“I wanted to give her the best shot that she had at developing any strength that she could from the breast milk. And just try to also save us money on the formula, because that ends up being pretty expensive,” Alia said.
“It helps them to get over an illness more quickly. And it also, it decreases the amount of times that they’re baby gets sick if they are breastfeeding them,” Gackle said.
Kristin Gackle is a registered nurse on the lactation team with Sanford Health’s new arrivals class.
The class offers resources including lactation specialists, a scale to measure feedings and support for moms.
“We can weigh their baby before their baby eats, and then after. Because sometimes moms want the exact number of ounces their baby or babies are taking. So we have a scale that’s able to have a very accurate measurement of the baby’s weight,” Gackle said.
Alia has been coming to New Arrivals since Tatum was born.
“They have so many answers and if they don’t have the answers, they know exactly where to point you so that you can have the best breastfeeding journey with your kid, as you can,” Alia said.
Even if you aren’t choosing to or don’t have the option to breastfeed your child, new arrivals welcomes any mom to its class.
“The biggest thing we want them to know is we support them regardless of how they’re feeding their baby. But we want them to know that immune, nutrition, all the variety of benefits that breastfeeding has for their baby,” Gackle said.
New Arrivals is a community resource free to any mom, with no appointment necessary.
For more information, click here.