Perinatal education for 1400 mothers in Albania

Thank you so much for your generous giving to safeguard the futures of new mothers and newborns at maternity hospitals in Albania.

Regular prenatal classes with expecting and new mothers, hands-on help for newborns to start to breastfeed, video and booklet educational materials accessible to mothers, and life-saving equipment for the neo-natal intensive unit have helped us see medical staff and parents apply best practices for mother and baby care.  

Our work to support breastfeeding is based on extensive evidence that breastfeeding saves lives, improves health and cuts costs in every country worldwide.  According to UNICEF, breastfeeding offers advantages including:

• Infant health: Breastfeeding protects children from a vast range of illnesses, including infection, diabetes, asthma, heart disease and obesity, as well as cot death (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)
• Maternal health: Breastfeeding also protects mothers from breast and ovarian cancers and heart disease
• Relationship-building: Breastfeeding supports the mother-baby relationship and the mental health of both baby and mother
• Worldwide benefits: The benefits are seen in both high- and low-income countries, with a study published in The Lancet in 2016 finding that increasing breastfeeding rates around the world to near universal levels could prevent 823,000 annual deaths in children younger than five years and 20,000 annual maternal deaths from breast cancer

Supporting Breastfeeding in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Breast pumps and support

We are making available good breast pumps and individualized support to mothers who may not have access so they can avoid expensive and lower-quality formula. One mother who was given a pump to help her with her premature twins was able to build up a supply of life-saving breast milk.

We continue to advocate for the use of breastmilk in the NICU setting to reduce infection and give the premature babies the best chance possible.

Supporting Breastfeeding on the ward

In order to help mothers initiate breastfeeding as early as possible and give them the confidence they need to continue breastfeeding, our midwife makes the rounds of the ward where mothers are resting after giving birth and offers individual help. It is very common in Albania that mothers are told they have no milk and need to switch to formula on the first day after they give birth.  We always encourage them that they have enough milk for their baby and teach them how to keep up their supply. 

Mothers are carefully shown how to get the precious colostrum milk on the first day, using techniques of breast massage and hand expression, as well as what to look out for when they go home to make sure their babies are getting enough to eat. 

Multiplying our Impact

As we look into this year, we want to be able to focus on training other midwives and on having more prenatal classes that are accessible to mothers who want to learn. 

With September's Little by Little Campaign, our donors will be invited to join us once again in saving the lives of mothers and babies. Thank you for being a part of the change with us and helping Albania meet its goals of lowering infant and maternal mortality rates.  

Links:

• Our website
• Follow us on Facebook!
• Follow our work in the community on Mamicare Albania