Breastfeeding Bonds Sister Cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez

WHAT: The opening of Latin America's first baby café in Ciudad Juarez. The ribbon cutting ceremony of  the new baby café at Sede Hospital General de Zona No 6 Cd. (Pronaf Center) Juarez, Chihuahua, will be Skyped. The director of the Baby Café de Ciudad Juarez, Dra. Juana Trejo Franco, will be available for interviews via Skype.

WHEN: 10 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 25

WHERE: El Paso Baby Café®, inside the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing, 415 E. Yandell Dr.

EVENT:  The El Paso Baby Café® and the Baby Café de Ciudad Juarez serves the needs of women who are breastfeeding and mothers interested in breastfeeding their children. The baby café is a free drop-in center open three times a week.

At the baby café, mothers support each other, and a lactation professional is always available. The idea of the facility is predicated on evidence that breastfed babies have a significantly lower risk of becoming obese later in life. One of the top objectives of the baby café is to normalize breastfeeding.

The El Paso Baby Café® was the second to open in the U.S., and is modeled after a similar facility in the United Kingdom.  Both baby cafés are licensed under the umbrella organization of The Baby Café Charitable Trust, U.K.

The main partners of the El Paso Baby Café® are: the TTUHSC Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing; University Medical Center of El Paso;  the Texas Department of State Health Services' Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention Program; El Paso City-County Health, WIC; El Paso First HealthPlans Inc.; Superior HealthPlan; Southwest Area Breastfeeding Advocates; the Paso del Norte Health Foundation's Begin at Birth Initiative; ESC Region 19 Early Head Start; AVANCE; March of Dimes; the TTUHSC Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health; and Univision Channel 26.

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