BF Mom Hospital Gift Packs

[chemer]

I would like our local BFing support community to start looking for grant money to produce hospital gift packs that will actually inform and encourage breastfeeding moms. I would love help in brainstorming the packs and money issues here. Bear in mind that we have about 2800 births per year in our county and we'd need to keep things as cheap as possible.

To compete with formula issued packs we'd need an actual gift. Any ideas? Someone recommended newborn caps as a relatively inexpensive idea. A hand signed card would be nice. Formula companies tend to do bags and the one I saw at the hospital where I gave birth in March was really just a reusable shopping bag. I'd love to be able to include a book, but I think that is just not reasonable given cost constraints. The gift(s) have to be cheap and they have to be small/packable.

Information. I'm actually thinking of trying to get cash to do two sets - one for the first prenatal visit that 100% of moms would get when they get the first batch of formula advertising, and one for the hospital discharge that would only go to nursing moms. I think the prenatal one should contain info to dispel myths and misinformation. Information on things like smoking and breastfeeding would be really important, imo. Also info on best practices in the immediate postpartum period. Hospital pack would include info on avoiding problems, general breastfeeding management, going back to work, contact info for BFing professionals, times and locations of local support groups, etc. Thoughts?

As far as funding, I have heard of groups getting grants to do things like this before. I'm thinking of looking at the state and local levels of the health department. Also looking into private philanthropic groups. But what about private industry? Insurance companies should (in theory) go for this kind of thing, if they have a program for community grants and if we make a good argument that it could increase breastfeeding rates/decrease ped visits. The advantage of trying for industry funding is that, assuming the packs are well received, the program wouldn't automatically stop after the first year.

Metrics. Is there any way that we could propose monitoring the success of the program? How can we show that it improves the length of nursing, the rates of initiation, or women's general feelings about their breastfeeding experiences?

[smpayne]

Write to companies and get coupons/samples to give away (nursing pillow, covers, baby clothes, pumps, and other misc baby stuff). Mom's go for the formula company bags, because they have FREE stuff. I willingly admit to signing up for free stuff from all the formula companies, even though I was breastfeeding.

You definitely need a book for pamphlet of some kind on breastfeeding. Believe it or not, the most helpful bf guide I had came with my free stuff from Enfamil. I think it was sort of a "cliff notes" version of a larger book. FAQ sheets and mythbuster sheets would be good as well as lists of all the LCs in the local area.

[proudmomof4]

Nursing pads - sometimes companies include sample packs for disposable ones.
If you have any crafty types on your team of helpers you could consider making washable nursing pads (from terrycloth, cotton flannel or something similar).

Baby onesie if you can get it sponsored? Diaper coupons? Coupon code from a manufacturer for baby slings - it doesn't hurt to ask. (Didymos once gave me a set of bags for a Mother's Day gift bag for my LLL group in Germany.)

It would be great to collaborate with your local LLL chapters and similar support groups (if you're not doing it already): include their contact #s and maybe a meeting schedule.

[Bookworm?]

Healthy baby bounty bags. There are on sale right now, buy one at 1.99 get one free. Pretty cheap. Mostly it's full of freebies but there is a card with proper latch on it. You could use these and then add a booklet or more info.
http://www.cottonwood-kids.com/index.i

[chemer]

Thank you for the ideas. I am an LLL leader and I'm trying to work with the larger network of breastfeeding support people in our area too.

Those Healthy Baby bags look very promising. Thanks for the link.

[caiesmommy]

Didn't read the pp but here'smy ideas

-breast pads
-lanolin sample
-magnet that shows size of baby bm/amount of wet diapers
-coupoins for breast pump company
-those doughnut shaped breast sorness relievers(theones ou can putint he microwave/freezer. Im sure you can get someone to make handmade ones(like rice bags) as a donation to the cause
-coupons for b/f clothes

[tinybutterfly]

I think a pretty little notecard or magnet with the telephone numbers of LLL leaders they can reach would be great.

Disposable nursing pad samples.

Lanolin sample.

If you could get some people knitting, little baby booties would be cute.

I have no idea how you could do this one, but some kind of certificate from a local grocery store for food...like a $5.00 coupon or some kind of buy one head of brocolli ( or whatever) and get one free thing.

Could you do some kind of fundraiser to get money to buy little books or have people donate books? You might not be able to have them all the time, but that's such a nice idea to include a children's book.

A cup for water. Gotta drink lots while you're nursing.

Some kind of little pin or wristlet to keep track of which side you last nursed on.

A card with the name of a store where you can get nice nursing bras and maybe a discount coupon if you buy one there? Is there a store near you that would be willing to participate?

Coupon from a photographer who does baby pictures.

Good luck! What a really, really great idea!

[annettemarie]

I think these are great ideas, but want to caution you that getting into the hospitals is very, very difficult. A while back, a coalition of breastfeeding advocacy groups came up with money, time, and energy to put together little breastfeeding support bags for the hospitals to give out to new mothers and not one area hospital (out of 5 or 6) would take them, citing "legal concerns."

[rhiOrion]

So, I imagine I'm not alone with suddenly having an avalanche of reusable grocery bags. I did get a nice canvas one from the birth center when L was born, but still, I have a ton.

As a new breastfeeding mom, I'm doing a very poor job of getting enough to drink.

So, I think it would be cool, if everything you included was small enough (pamphlet, breast pads, lanolin sample, etc) to fit in a large plastic cup instead of a bag. I would think it wouldn't cost that much different, but I have no idea, really. Maybe the cups could have whatever your organization will be called on it, as well as a website for a local LLL or something similar?

[Bookworm?]

I don't get the "legal concerns". What could they possibly mean? Our LLL group has done this for years. We've always made up hospital packets of literature including a meeting notice. They don't give them instead of formula bags but they do give them. We also donate Womanly Art of Breastfeeding books to be in each OB room. We have a small rural hospital so this is doable for us.
We also apply for and get a United Way grant each year that funds these packets and other things. Again, we are very rural so United Way may not be able to fund such a thing is a larger area.

[annettemarie]

Because LLL are not health professionals, I guess. Or maybe it was just an excuse for not letting us in the door when we didn't bring any $$$ to the table.

[chemer]

Interesting info on people having run into opposition before. That's what I had been worried about and I was thrilled when I finally met our local independent IBCLC and she seemed to think that our two hospitals would welcome it. I'm hoping she's right, hoping that working with the entire breastfeeding community helps, and hoping that we can have a good talk with someone after we have a better idea of what we'd give out.

annettemarie - Any idea where the funding for that groups efforts would have come from?

bookworm? - Can I send you a PM to get a little more information on what literature you use?

[proudmomof4]

annettemarie, I don't really think that "legal" reasons were the main concern there. They give out formula samples, after all - and I doubt that they track the list of ingredients or do regular safety checks in their laboratories for those samples.

I still think it's a wonderful idea and the hospital can't do anything more than say "no". If they don't take your gift packs, you could try an OB's or midwife's office, or if all else fails you can still give them to mothers at LLL meetings. (I know, that's not quite the idea - you'd like to reach a broader "audience".)

Here's what I had in our LLL bags 2 years ago (meeting topic "Was Müttern gut tut" - translated roughly "Taking care of mothers" or "Doing mothers some good"):
- LLL meeting schedule and catalogue (LLL store)
- Lansinoh sample
- handsoap
- sample for hand cream or shampoo from a pharmacy
- bookmark
- herbal tea mix from a pharmacy
- massage roller
- bookmark

[mommajb]

AM, We have our bags from LLL in the hospital but my coleader is the hospital IBCLC so.... We replace the formula company bags for breastfeeding moms. We are rural with 350ish babies at the hospital in a year total. We include a book usually WAB along many other items. Each item is used as a bf teaching tool before discharge by the IBCLC.

[LionessMom]

what a great idea! i gave birth in a hospital with both DD1 & 2. both times i nformed doctors and everybody that i would bf. with DD1 i did recieve some stuff in the mail but i also received great stuff from my doc and hospital. i received at least 3 different books on bfing, and they all had accurate info in them and numbers for LLL and LCs! i got a tube of lanolin and some sposie breast pads. the hospital gives out a huge plastic water bottle too, at the walk through before the birth. yk when you go on the tour. the tour includes a book about bfing and they make sure to stop and show you the bfing store. they sell bras and pumps and stuff, they even have some slings. at one of the prenatal classes they let you taste formula and tell you that bm tastes better to baby.

i would have loved to have received one of those bracelets for remembering which side i used. a lc "bothered" me at least 5 times when i was in the hospital. lol. she was there immediately after the birth (within 2 hours) and came by again a couple of hours later. i know that alot of hospitals arent like this, but i hope it is a sign that more will follow. keep up the good work. we need more moms to bf!

[Bookworm?]

Sure chemer, pm me.