Canada’s first hospital-based Breastfeeding Centre of Excellence opens

Sunnybrook has opened Canada’s first Breastfeeding Centre of Excellence to improve outcomes for the most at-risk, sickest babies and mothers.

The Centre will increase networking and collaboration among clinicians, educators and researchers with an expertise in breastfeeding, with a special focus on “micro preemies”. Micro preemies are babies born weighing less than one pound, 12 ounces or before 26 weeks gestation. Sunnybrook cares for 1200 babies in its neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) each year, and one in five babies in Ontario weighing less than 1500 grams are born at the hospital.

“In Sunnybrook’s NICU, and in NICUs across the country, breast milk represents so much more than just food,” says Dr. Jo Watson, Nurse Practitioner and Operations Director for the Women & Babies Program. “Breast milk promotes healing, growth and development within the newborn that will last a lifetime. Through the Breastfeeding Centre of Excellence, we will work with other hospitals, universities and colleges, and community organizations to encourage and sustain exclusive breastfeeding, which is crucial for preterm infants.”

The inaugural education fellowship was announced today, with recipient Misol Kim, a midwifery student, to spend two weeks assisting women in Sunnybrook’s Women & Babies Program. This includes supporting mothers to breastfeed when their infants are sick or premature. The Centre’s research fellowship was also announced, with Rosine Bishara, a perinatal dietitian in Sunnybrook’s NICU, to evaluate nutrient intake and growth of infants born less than 1500 grams and enrolled in the donor milk for improved neurodevelopmental outcomes (DoMINO) trial.

The Breastfeeding Centre of Excellence will also support women with underlying conditions, such as those with diabetes or a history of breast conditions, to initiate and continue breastfeeding. Sunnybrook has a team approach in caring for high-risk pregnant women that involves partnering with nephrologists, oncologists, trauma surgeons, haematologists and endocrinologists.

“The Breastfeeding Centre of Excellence builds on an exceptional foundation in caring for high-risk moms and babies at Sunnybrook,” says Dr. Art Zaltz, Chief of the Women & Babies Program at Sunnybrook. “We have the largest breastfeeding clinic in Canada, which supports low and high-risk moms, and innovative approaches to providing both mother and donor breast milk for premature infants. The Centre will focus on developing new breastfeeding knowledge and translating this knowledge into practice”.

Over the last year, Sunnybrook received funds from the Government of Ontario, with the support of the Best Start Resource Centre at Health Nexus, to establish a peer breastfeeding counselor role in its NICU. The hospital has also established a program of focused support and education for women with diabetes who plan to breastfeed.

“Our rate of exclusive breastfeeding upon discharge from the NICU is twice the national average,” adds Dr. Watson. “Through leadership in a interdisciplinary clinical approach, and the focus on education and research, we hope to influence the exclusivity and duration of breastfeeding for all infants.”