Just in time for Mother’s Day, Borough President Eric Adams joined with maternal healthcare providers, breastfeeding advocates and local moms at the Brooklyn Hospital Center to announce a partnership with Brooklyn hospitals for his baby cards initiative.
The initiative will offer a note of greeting to new mothers, information on breastfeeding, and other resources to parents. The cards, which expand on Adams’s Family Friendly Brooklyn Initiative, also include information about the lactation lounge at Brooklyn Borough Hall, a comfortable, private space open to the public for breastfeeding.
“A baby does not arrive in the delivery room with an instruction manual,” said Adams at the announcement, made on Friday, May 6. “When the baby comes, parents must learn from their relatives and friends, and sometimes improvise. We need to send the message that a mother’s breast milk provides the best nutrition to support the healthy development of the child. Part of that involves talking to new parents and sharing the information.”
Hospitals involved in the initiative include Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center, New York Methodist Hospital, NYC Health+Hospitals/Coney Island, NYC Health+Hospitals/Kings County, NYC Health+Hospitals/Woodhull, NYU Lutheran Medical Center, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, the Brooklyn Hospital Center, and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
“We’re proud to be part of the Brooklyn borough president’s important initiative supporting breastfeeding, healthy mothers and healthy children,” said Dr. Scarlett Karakash, director of obstetrics at Maimonides Medical Center.
Adams also used the announcement as a means to call on the City Council to enact a bill he introduced with Councilmembers Robert Cornegy, Laurie Cumbo and Corey Johnson that would require every municipal government building in the city to have a lactation room available to the public during business hours.
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