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Baby Cafe Encourages Breast Feeding

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

BRANDON - Babies who are breastfed are less likely to suffer from common childhood infections and viruses than those brought up on formula, experts say.

And evidence indicates breastfeeding moms have less chance of developing some types of ovarian and breast cancer.

However, not all new moms know the benefits.

Baby Bungalow, a program of the nonprofit Child Abuse Council, is offering a new venue for women seeking information on breastfeeding or who need help getting started.

The program, called Baby Cafe, is offered weekly at three locations in Hillsborough County, including the Family Support & Resource Center in Brandon.
Lactation counselor Leah Virgin is at the center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays to meet informally with anyone interested in learning about breastfeeding. No sign-up is necessary, she said. "Just walk through the door."

Getting a lactation counselor to visit at home for one-on-one counseling can cost an average of $50 to $75 per hour, said lactation specialist Alex Boyer. Specialists at the center are available to make home visits at no charge, regardless of income.

In Hillsborough County, about 71 percent of mothers start breastfeeding right away, Boyer said.

"But once they get home, they're worrying that their milk is not coming in or that their baby is not getting enough to eat," she said.

Some give up too quickly because they don't have the support to help them get through the rough patches, Boyer said. Baby Cafe is meant to help moms overcome those problems.

"The goal is really to help mothers of newborns," Boyer said, "to get to them within the first two weeks."

"I can't tell you how many women I've talked to who say they wish they would have known what to do," Virgin added.

Right now, news about the program is spreading through word of mouth. Baby Bungalow also is printing up fliers Boyer hopes to distribute to childbirth classes and pediatricians' offices.

"Pregnant women are welcome, as are their support people, whether that's a father, grandmother, mother or whoever," Boyer said.

Women tend to be more successful at breastfeeding when they have that kind of support, she said.
Baby Bungalow also holds free classes that offer other information for pregnant women and mothers with newborns. For details, go to www.babybungalow.org and click on "ABC Class Schedule."

Classes also are offered at the Family Support & Resource centers in North Tampa and Town 'N Country. The Brandon Family Support & Resource Center is at 1277 Kingsway Road, in the Sweetbay plaza near Windhorst Road.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 657-4532 or yhammett@tampatrib.com.

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