Mayo Clinic Health System — Austin and Albert Lea has been recognized for their work with new mothers and babies.

Mayo Clinic Health System’s Women’s Special Care Unit was recently awarded the Minnesota Breastfeeding-Friendly Maternity Center 5 Star Designation and the Minnesota Mother-Baby Ten STEPS (Striving Towards Excellence in Perinatal Services) Award by the Minnesota Department of Health.

“Our campus has been designated baby-friendly for the last five years and this five-star designation is a continuation of those efforts,” Nancy Hoversten, R.N., Women’s Special Care Unit and OB/GYN Clinic nurse manager, said in a press release. “The baby-friendly and breastfeeding-friendly designations are very intertwined and they are all things to promote the mother-baby bonding experience, such as rooming-in and skin-to-skin immediately after birth.”

The Minnesota Breastfeeding Friendly Maternity Center Designation Program recognizes maternity centers statewide that have taken steps toward implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and achieving Baby-Friendly designation.