Services

Once you arrive on the eighth floor Labor and Delivery Unit, you and your coach will be welcomed and asked a few questions to help determine the best room for you. If you have a birth plan, or require special accommodations, please let our staff know at this time. Our home-like, spacious birthing suites, where you’ll labor, deliver and recover, will provide you, your baby and family with the most reassuring atmosphere. During labor you’ll have access to round-the-clock pain management, private bathrooms and use of a whirlpool tub or shower, if appropriate.

Unless a medical problem makes it impossible, your baby will stay in your room at all times with a nurse caring for both of you. This philosophy promotes attachment within the new family. It also provides you with the opportunity to ask your nurse questions, so you have the knowledge and confidence to care for your new baby. Crouse Hospital also offers complimentary 24-hour viewing of the “Newborn Channel,” which shows educational programs, in English and Spanish, on the TV at every bedside.

Our state-of-the-art surgical suites are also equipped for cesarean sections, if this procedure is necessary. Once you’ve recovered, you and your baby will be transferred to our Mother-Baby Unit.

Sometimes babies need to stay in the hospital a little longer than their mothers. Our Mom's Place program provides a place for you to stay on 7 Irving, near your baby, on a space-available basis. Please ask your nurse for details. 

If you wish to participate in and meet the medical criteria for our 24-hour, short-stay Family Birth Program, you’ll be transferred to a private room on the maternity floor (whenever possible) and “room-in” with your baby and your coach. In order to be approved, you must have previously discussed the plan with both your OB and pediatric providers, and must plan to go home from the hospital as soon after 24 hours as possible. A nurse will visit you at home within one to three days after discharge. Once you have the agreement from both your physicians, a Family Birth Program Orientation Class is required. Please register by calling First Steps at 315/470-5716.

Choosing the way you will feed your baby is one of the most important decisions you will make in preparing for his or her arrival. Doctors agree that for most women and babies, breastfeeding is the safest and most healthy choice. It is your right to be informed about the benefits of breastfeeding, and having your healthcare provider encourage and support breastfeeding.

Crouse Hospital is committed to doing just that. Our five lactation consultants — Carol Cook, RN; Kristen Waterstripe, RN; Cynthia Maslak, RN; Kathryn Rushmore, RN and Charleen Insalaco, RN — are each an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, a health¬care professional who specializes in the clinical management of breastfeeding.

Crouse Hospital’s Breastfeeding Taskforce, led by Leonard Marotta, MD, medical director for Normal Obstetrical Services at Crouse Hospital, has developed a multidisciplinrary approach to assist new mothers with their breastfeeding needs. The taskforce is comprised of pediatricians, obstetricians, midwives, maternal and newborn nursing staff and our lactation consultants.

Our lactation consultants provide one-on-one education in our Lactation Office or in your room, and are available to assist you before and after birth. Arrange an appointment with them by calling 315/470-7179.

New York State passed Health Law Bill S1107 (effective May 1, 2009), the Breastfeeding Mothers Bill of Rights. At Crouse, we’re dedicated to helping you make the most informed decision about how to feed your new baby.

Online Resources 

Medications & Mother's Milk Online

LeLeche League

Crouse Hospital has compiled the Breastfeeding Resource Guide for the CNY Perinatal Region to assist physicians and their patients in accessing breastfeeding services across the region and state. Through this guide, Crouse Hospital hopes to give mothers the resources to breastfeed their babies and receive help and counseling from lactation specialists.

Please feel free to call our consultants at 315/470-7179 with any questions, concerns or comments. For any additions or updates to this guide, please contact Dr. Marotta at 315/470-8029 or by email. We hope you find this guide relevant and helpful.

The New York State Department of Health mandates that all mothers are advised to have HIV testing during each pregnancy. An HIV positive mother who is treated with special medications during pregnancy and birth has a much lower chance of passing HIV on to her baby.

If you refuse to be tested during your pregnancy, you will be counseled upon admission to the Kienzle Family Maternity Center. Refusing to test yourself at this time means that your baby will be tested at time of delivery.

You will not know if your baby needs special treatment until the tests results are returned. Accordingly, your baby’s care provider may decide to delay breastfeeding until results are received. The sooner a baby receives any medications related to HIV infection, the better are the chances that he or she will not contract HIV from an HIV positive mother.

New York State requires any newborn infant to leave the hospital in a car seat. If your car does not have a car seat for the baby’s trip home, staff will request the mother and baby to sit in the back seat. If you need a car seat, the Onondaga County Health Department Auxiliary sponsors a car seat rental program. For a small fee, you can be certain that your baby will arrive home safely. Rentals can be arranged for up to six months, but it’s important to call several weeks ahead to reserve a car seat. Call 315/435-8485 for more information.

There are many different kinds of car seats, so it is helpful to know how yours works before the day of discharge. If you cannot afford a car seat and live in Onondaga County, call the Onondaga County Car Seat Program and Greater Syracuse Safe Kids Coalition at 315/435-8485. If they have available car seats available, they will provide you with one.

For assistance installing your car seat, the following agencies are available in Onondaga County:

Syracuse City Police Department

Traffic Division
2109 Erie Boulevard, Syracuse, NY
Tuesdays: 4 pm – 6:30 pm
Fridays: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
315/442-5130 to make an appointment if you cannot be there on Tuesdays or Fridays.
There is no charge for this service and you do not have to live in Onondaga.

Manlius Police Department

Community Services
315/682-2212

Traffic Safety Program
Onondaga County Health Department
315/435-3280

Hearing-Impaired/Foreign Language Services

If you are hearing impaired or need a language interpreter, please notify the Admitting Office as soon as possible at 315/470-7361. Our free Language Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to assist you. Also, it is very important to have an interpreter upon discharge and at follow-up appointments. Our TTY line is 315/470-7914.

Pregnancy can be a wonderful yet scary time in a woman’s life. Prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, alcohol, illicit drugs and occupational hazards all can have an impact on pregnancy and the developing fetus. Sometimes finding reliable, up-to-date information about these exposures in pregnancy is difficult.

Pregnancy Risk Network (PRN) is a free, confidential telephone information service, sponsored by New York State. Callers can get reliable, comprehensive information on specific questions about exposures in pregnancy. PRN is an ideal resource for women and their healthcare providers, especially in the fall and winter months when there are many questions regarding the proper care throughout the flu season. Women and medical providers can reach the Pregnancy Risk Network at 800/724-2454.