Tara Ann Murphy, lactation consultant for MMC’s new Breastfeeding Wellness Center, is shown with, from left, Jonathan Teitelbaum, M.D., Chair of Pediatrics and Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology, and Robert Graebe, M.D., Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Long Branch, N.J., September 21st, 2022— Monmouth Medical Center’s outpatient Breastfeeding Wellness Center, which provides breastfeeding support before and after childbirth on an outpatient basis, is the newest program to open at the Anne Vogel Family Care and Wellness Center.
This program is designed to help and support families in reaching their breastmilk feeding goals through lactation consultations and breastfeeding support and education programs.
Conveniently located at the Anne Vogel Family Care and Wellness Center at the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, the center offers consultations with registered nurse (RN) international board-certified lactation consultants (IBCLC) to help mothers overcome challenges to breastfeeding. Additionally, the center offers private prenatal consults and information on how to order a breast pump through insurance on an outpatient basis.
The center also offers weekly free in-person and virtual support groups that promote breastfeeding through mother-to-mother support in a warm and welcoming environment. The support group is led by a registered nurse, board-certified lactation consultant. All topics and issues related to breastfeeding are included in the group discussions.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, then to continue for two years or more along with starting solid foods. The more a baby receives breastmilk, the more protection they will have against short and long-term illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“One of the best things we can do as a start for our children is to provide them with the best nutrition available through breastmilk,” says Tara Ann Murphy, Tara Murphy MSN, RN, IBCLC, the Lactation Consultant for the Breastfeeding Wellness Center. “Not only is your baby being fed a milk that is customized for them, but it passes on the benefit of the mother’s immune factors for as long as the baby receives breastmilk. Breastfeeding is one of the most rewarding experiences of motherhood and is the healthiest way to feed an infant during the first year of life.
Monmouth Medical Center’s expansive comprehensive breastfeeding program includes support prenatally with breastfeeding education prior to delivery, in hospital lactation support, and continued lactation services after discharge. It is designed to provide women with information about the benefits of breastfeeding, as well as the skills to successfully nurse their babies.
The program’s lactation consultants address a host of issues related to breastfeeding through one-on-one prenatal visits and group breastfeeding information sessions, including assistance with positioning or latching infant, weighted feeds to determine transfer of milk, feeding strategies to support successful lactation, establishing a good milk supply, and managing nipple pain. The sessions also address infants with poor or slow weight gain, making too little or too much milk, breastfeeding premature and/or multiple infants, learning to pump, transition to work, treatment plan for engorgement, plugged ducts, thrush or mastitis, and re-establishing milk supply. Oral assessment to identify possible tongue tie is provided as well.
“Breastfeeding helps you bond with your baby and is free,” Murphy adds. “The goal of our breastfeeding program is to help to make sure that moms are off to a good start. The goal is to empower families to reach their feeding goals.”
The Anne Vogel Family Care & Wellness Center opened this spring, with pediatric subspecialty practices in cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, pulmonology and infectious diseases, as well as general surgery, urology and otolaryngology (ENT), and women’s services including maternal/fetal medicine. The building also serves as the home for MMC’s Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders Center and offers Urgent Care services and Lab Blood Drawing Station. The 82,000-square-foot medical and wellness facility includes wellness education and resources through the LiveWell Center and WEforum Demonstration Kitchen featuring Dorothea and Jon Bon Jovi Nutrition Education Programs.
Children’s Specialized Hospital (CSH), a fellow RWJBarnabas Health facility, occupies the second floor of the Anne Vogel Family Care & Wellness Center, offering medical and therapy services including audiology, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychiatry, psychology, and speech language therapy. This is the first CSH location in Monmouth County and will serve to enhance access to their specialized services for local patients and families.
To register or make an appointment or to learn more about the Breastfeeding Wellness Center, call 862-781-3873. To learn more about the programs and services offered at the Anne Vogel Family Care & Wellness Center, visit rwjbh.org/avfamilycare.
About Monmouth Medical Center
Monmouth Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) facility, along with The Unterberg Children’s Hospital, is a regional teaching campus for Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. As the first hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties, Monmouth Medical Center offers the most experienced surgeons in robotics and other minimally invasive procedures as well as bariatric and joint and spine surgery. Monmouth Medical Center delivers more babies annually than all other hospitals in Monmouth and Ocean counties combined and the fourth most in the state. The hospital offers access to the region’s top cardiologists and the award-winning, nationally recognized RWJBarnabas Heart Centers. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) has conferred Magnet® recognition for Monmouth Medical Center, one of just 509 U.S. health care organizations out of more than 6,300 U.S. hospitals to achieve Magnet recognition. It is the only hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties to consistently receive an “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit organization, and has been named a Leapfrog Top Teaching Hospital for a third time. MMC is one of just 414 of the more than 6,000 hospital hospitals in the United Stated named to Newsweek's Global Best Hospitals' list and one of 148 U.S. hospitals named to the digital platform Money’s inaugural list of the Best Hospitals in America. Additionally, it is one of 34 U.S. hospitals honored by the Emergency Nurses Association with the 2022–2025 Lantern Award for excellence in emergency care, and for the seventh consecutive year, was honored by Healthgrades with the Obstetrics and Gynecology and Labor and Delivery Excellence Awards. RWJBarnabas Health and Monmouth Medical Center, in partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey — the state's only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center — brings a world class team of researchers and specialists to fight alongside patients, providing close-to-home access to the latest treatment and clinical trials.
Kathy Horan
732-546-6317
kathy.horan@rwjbh.org