CHD Early Intervention Program Supervisor Cindy Napoli attended the City of Springfield’s Flag Raising Ceremony for the National Breastfeeding Month Kickoff on August 1. Napoli, pictured wearing pink in the back row in the first photo and on the left in the second photo, belongs to Springfield’s Maternal Child Health Care Commission (MCHC), representing CHD.
Napoli is pictured with Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Judi Crowell, and MCHC Chair Shenell Ford, among others.
Napoli has worked with Ford on the MCHC for the past five years. “Shenell is also the founder of the community-based lactation practice Heart2Heartbeat Lactation and Wellness,” she said. “She is a dedicated and passionate young career woman who loves her community and strives to make it better for mothers and babies.”
Taking a course through the Healthy Children’s Project, Inc. to become a lactation counselor, Napoli said that improving awareness and access and promoting breastfeeding within our community “is a commitment that we strive for and is part of the very foundation of the tenets of the UNICEF and the WHO Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative ten steps to successful breastfeeding.”
Napoli said that early intervention (EI) comes into the picture when the baby has difficulty in breastfeeding or trouble latching. “Breastfeeding should never be painful,” said Napoli. Parents typically seek out advice from certified lactation consultants or certified lactation counselors, “and if they are not able to help after several trouble shooting sessions, then a referral is made for a feeding assessment, and hence the EI process begins,” said Napoli.