Learning to breastfeed is rarely as simple as holding an infant at the breast and letting nature do the rest. For Ashley Hall and her first baby, a boy named Ozias, latching was impossible; Hall thought suffering was part of the process.
“For months we tried to latch and it was extremely painful,” she said. “He would get frustrated and I thought it was just supposed to be painful.”
Hall lives in Franklin, Pennsylvania; a rural town where healthcare resources are thin. But one pediatrician there is taking advantage of a state maternal health initiative to help new moms like Hall.
Dr. Amaka Nnamani of Franklin Pediatrics is looking to improve community health outcomes by making space in her office for new moms to connect with and learn from each other.
“Moms will prioritize their child’s health over their own,” Nnamani said. “She will not go to her doctor’s appointment, but she’ll do her best to make sure she makes her baby’s appointment… Our vision is that we’re able to take care of the mom and the baby.”
Nnamani is an independent pediatrician; the only one in Venango County. With about 1,100 patients, she said she often talks with new mothers who feel unprepared for things like breastfeeding.
“You learn about it when you’re pregnant or about to have a baby,” she said. “Can you imagine a world where children just grew up having [breastfeeding] normalized for them?”
Kiley Koscinski
/
90.5 WESA
Dr. Amaka Nnamani poses for a portrait at her practice Franklin Pediatric Associates.
Breast milk gives babies an ideal blend of nutrients, antibodies and hormones to promote growth and brain development. Major health agencies recommend exclusively breastfeeding for a baby’s first six months.
Dr. Nnamani is a mother herself and an author of a children’s book about breastfeeding. She said she felt called to help raise the rate of breastfeeding in her community when she noticed the gap in education about breastfeeding among the mothers of her small patients.
This spring, Nnamani’s practice, Franklin Pediatrics, was awarded a $150,000 grant from the state to launch a breastfeeding support program. The grant is part of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s five-year maternal health action plan that launched in March.
The state is investing in programs that make pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period safer for Pennsylvania families. The effort funds community-based solutions to reduce maternal deaths, improve access to care, and close longstanding health disparities, especially in rural and underserved communities.
The funds helped Nnamani bring in a lactation consultant, a social worker and complete renovations that made the facility more comfortable for moms and their newborns.
“This room is spa-inspired,” Dr. Nnamani said of the pink room lined with floor chairs for moms and a play mat for the babies to crawl around on. “This is Venango County, a lot of moms don’t have that,” Dr. Nnamani said.
During a recent support group gathering, Hall said the women there have been instrumental in her early motherhood journey. The group taught her that breastfeeding can be uncomfortable, but generally it should not hurt.
“I wish someone had told me if it hurts, something is wrong, whether it’s the latch or maybe the baby has a tongue tie or maybe it’s not deep enough or whatever,” she said. “Nobody told me that until I got here.”
The moms swap notes from the newborn trenches every week. Becca Kulus said without the group, she felt isolated as she learned how to care for her newborn.
“I don’t have anyone. My sister didn’t breastfeed. My mom did, but she has dementia, so I can’t talk to her about it. She doesn’t remember,” she said. “So it was nice to have a place where I could come talk to people.”
Kiley Koscinski
/
90.5 WESA
Danielle Shaw, Ashley Hall and Becca Kulus sit in a circle with their infant sons at a recent breastfeeding support group gathering at Franklin Pediatric Associates.
Danielle Shaw has been breastfeeding her 9-month-old Marshall since he was born. But she said it took a lot of trial and error and she didn’t always have support at her finger tips. She was disappointed in the brief guidance she got on the way home from the hospital.
“I felt like they just came in and they were like, ‘Well, try a nipple shield, try this position, try that position,’” Shaw said. “And none of it ended up working.”
Shaw brought her newborn to another lactation consultant in Erie, which is about an hour drive. She said she committed to breastfeeding for its benefits but also because the cost of formula was so high.
Transportation is a significant barrier across Venango County, according to state data. Many of Dr. Nnamani’s patients don’t have a vehicle, she said.
“I actually have a lot of patients that walk to my office, which means from an operational standpoint, sometimes we have to double book because patients no-show,” she said. “Some days you don’t know what you’re going to get … 30 patients on the schedule and have 18 patients show up.”
More than half of Nnamani’s patients are on Medicaid, and looming cuts to coverage will make access harder for some families. Still, she’s optimistic that the success of her lactation support program could inspire more rural clinics to do the same.
“We will continue to do the work,” Nnamani said. “I think, really this is my mission in life right now. And I believe God’s going to make a way. So I’m just gonna keep at it and keep doing what I do.”
