Mother and Baby

Additional features of the birthing unit include:

• Family-centered care
• Childbirth education classes and hospital tours
• Dedicated caesarean delivery rooms
• Case management and social services
• Lactation consultant and breastfeeding classes
• Skin-to-skin care (kangaroo care)
• HUGS infant safety system
• Complete discharge education, including infant CPR review to ensure a successful transition from the special care nursery to home
• Overnight transition rooms for parents who need further education and preparation before going home

Family-Centered Birthing

Our birthing center offers individualized care for new mothers and their healthy newborns. Our nurses are trained to meet the needs of these special patients. We understand that birth is a normal process and we encourage mom to keep baby at her bedside, known as rooming-in, to learn how to respond to her baby's needs, establish uninterrupted skin to skin care as soon as her baby is born and to identify feeding cues for establishing breastfeeding or bottle feeding according to mom's decision.

A mother's desire to keep her healthy newborn near her is instinctive. Towards that endeavor we offer Kangaroo Care, a method of holding a baby that involves skin-to-skin contact. Research indicates this is exactly what mom and her baby need. Some of the benefits to the mother include distraction from discomfort, more confidence in caring for her baby, less anxiety and strengthened attachment to her baby which is believed to decrease the incidence of postpartum depression. Some of the benefits to the baby include improved ability to maintain temperature, decreased incidence of low blood sugar, less crying and increased success with breastfeeding which can decrease the chance of the baby developing jaundice.

All of our nurses are trained to assist our new mothers to successfully establish breastfeeding, and should there be a need for more intensive intervention, a certified Lactation specialist is available to assist during the hospital stay and after discharge.

Breast Feeding & Lactation Consultation

Los Alamos Medical Center is proud to support breastfeeding moms in our area – those at work and at home. We are committed to making communities healthier, and breastfeeding education enables us to do this with twice the impact, as it benefits babies and their mothers. 

Special Care Nursery

If the baby should require care in the Special Care Nursery, the LAMC staff will help mom to get to her baby's bedside whenever she is ready and she wants. Our Special Care Nursery can provide care to an infant who is moderately ill with problems that are excepted to resolve rapidly. Those babies are at moderate risk of serious complications related to immaturity, illness and/or their management. This may include jaundice, transient tachypnea of newborn, respiratory distress syndrome, hypoglycemia, neonatal sepsis, neonatal abstinence syndrome and prematurity. Our Board Certified Neonatologist works with dedicated and skilled Neonatal Nurse Practitioners, nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers, discharge planners in helping infants and their families bond, to address medical needs and learn necessary care skills, and to prepare families for transition to home. We can provide care to newborn infants that are more than 38 weeks gestational age ( infants born as early as 4 weeks before due date) and weigh more than 1500 grams ( 3lbs and 5 oz.) at birth or who are recovering from serious illness.

Child Safety Seat Distribution Program

Los Alamos Medical Center is proud to be a distribution site for The New Mexico Child Safety Seat Distribution Program. This program allows for limited distribution of reduced cost seats to low-income families who meet programs requirements and to families whose child meets medically indicated requirements for specialized car seats. To learn more click here.