Breastfeeding Your Baby with Special Needs 

Benefits of Nursing Your Baby with Special Needs – La Leche League 
(These pages have been reprinted with permission from LLLI publications. Articles are listed with the most current published or revised items first.)

• Breastfeeding Babies with Special Needs - La Leche League
• Breastfeeding a Premature Baby
  • Premature Birth - March of Dimes
  • Breastfeeding Premature Infants - La Leche League
• Breastfeeding a baby with Cleft Lip or Palate - March of Dimes
• Breastfeeding a baby with Down Syndrome -  La Leche League

Where to Call for Help  

Oklahoma Breastfeeding Hotline
Línea de Ayuda para la Lactancia en Oklahoma
24 Hour Toll-Free Breastfeeding Support Line for nursing mothers, their families, partners, expecting parents, and health care providers. All calls returned by an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC).
1-877-271-MILK (6455)

For More Resources

• SoonerStart
  Oklahoma's early intervention program designed to meet the needs of infants and toddlers aged birth to 36 months, with disabilities and developmental delays.
• Oklahoma Moms of Multiples
• Dial 211 for statewide referrals and information
• OASIS Statewide Information and Referral for Oklahomans with Special Needs. 1-800-426-2747
• La Leche League International – Oklahoma Groups
• La Leche League International
• Supporting Feeding & Oral Development in Young Children:
  Guidelines for Parents - Down Syndrome Ireland
  • A helpful parents’ resource for a child’s first 2 or 3 years of life.  It includes feeding issues for young children with Down syndrome, congenital heart disease and/or feeding problems.

Hospitals with Breastfeeding Support for Babies with Special Health Care Needs

• Plans for Oklahoma Mothers Milk Bank - Channel 9 Interview
• The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center – Oklahoma City
  • Lactation Center 1-405-271-MILK (6455)
  • Women’s and Newborn Services
• Integris Baptist Lactation Services – Oklahoma City  405-949-6052   
• Mercy Health System of Oklahoma – All About Breastfeeding  405-752-3586
• Hillcrest Medical Center – Tulsa
  • Neonatal Intensive Care Unit  918-579-8000    
• The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis  – Tulsa
  • Neonatal Intensive Care Unit  918-502-6550
• St. John Health System – Breastfeeding Center – Tulsa  918-744-2681
• Norman Regional Health System Lactation Services – Norman  405-515-3532

Pediatric Specialty Centers

• The Children’s Center - Bethany
• J.D. McCarty Center for Children with Developmental Disabilities – Norman  405-307-2837

Milk Banks
Mothers' Milk Banks collect, process, and dispense donor human milk, which is prescribed by health care providers to help preterm and fragile infants thrive.  

• North Texas Mother’s Milk Bank, Fort Worth, Texas  
  • OU medical Center is a Milk Bank Depot in Oklahoma City that partners with the North Texas Mother’s Milk Bank.
    The depot is located in the Lactation Center at OU Medical Center, on the 4th floor of the Children’s Hospital in the Women’s/Newborn Pavilion area.
    • Call 405-271-MILK (6455) to talk with one of the lactation consultants for information about donating milk or for directions
    • Donors or others may arrange to be met at the front of the hospital to avoid parking and walking.
• Human Milk Banking Association of North America