February 15, 2023 at 3:40 p.m.
THE BABY CAFE
THE BABY CAFE
The Albany Baby Cafe celebrated its grand opening on Jan. 5 at its new location, The Collaboratory (a community health center), located inside the Albany Housing Authority building at 200 South Pearl St., in Albany.
The Baby Cafe offers pregnant or nursing moms and parents a space to ask questions, get help with feeding, or get emotional support from fellow mothers and lactation specialists. The cafe is open once a week on Thursdays from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and is drop-in based. The cafe also offers free, one-on-one feeding assistance from certified specialists and peer counselors.
“This is the support you get in the hospital when you give birth, but you don’t get that when you leave unless you pay,” said Erin Sinisgalli, director of Community Health Programs for St. Peter’s Health Partners. “We felt this unmet need, because (here) you don’t have to pay.”
The Baby Cafe is one of five cafes supported by SPHP in the Capital Region. The other sites are located at the Mechanicville Public Library in Saratoga County; the Mont Pleasant Branch Library and Phyllis Bornt Branch Library and Literacy Center in Schenectady; and at Samaritan Hospital – St. Mary’s Campus in Troy. There is also a sixth, virtual-only Baby Cafe based out of St. Peter’s Hospital.
Since each cafe is drop-in based it’s hard to tell how busy the day will be. Returning mothers or parents will often come to the cafes for the socialization, while new mothers might have questions on feedings, like how to properly latch and if their baby is eating enough.
“It’s very informal … but it’s more than just a social group and it’s more than just a peer-based feeding support group because they’re getting professional lactation support,” said Stephanie Avienu, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) for the Baby Cafe.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), breastfeeding can help protect babies against some short- and long-term illnesses and diseases. Breastfed babies also have a lower risk of asthma, obesity, type 1 diabetes and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
“We do know that breastfeeding reduces the onset of postpartum depression in mothers,” Avienu added, “so there are emotional health benefits for the baby and the mother.”
The Baby Cafe network is funded by the New York State Department of Health’s “Creating Breastfeeding Friendly Communities” grant. The grant hopes to help equip communities and businesses with access to breastfeeding supplies and spaces, as well as reduce the racial and ethnic community disparities in the prevalence of feeding.
Chloe Blaise, Community Relations liaison for the “Creating Breastfeeding Friendly Communities” grant, said there is a lot of “shame and scrutiny” around public breastfeeding that they’re trying to change.
“The World Health Organization encourages people to breastfeed for at least the first six months but a lot of people don’t because they either have to go back to work or they don’t have the space to breastfeed,” Blaise said. “So what we’re doing is trying to get more places in compliance with the law, and a lot of people just don’t know.”
Right now, the cafe is focusing on getting the word out about its new location. Blaise added that a lot of the mothers who do come just need some help getting their footing, and they’re happy to help.
“A lot of the concerns are psychosomatic, like being flustered with a new baby and all the things you thought you knew you don’t actually know. And they come back and say, ‘If it wasn’t for you I don’t know if I would have continued’ or ‘You helped us through our journey.’ ”
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