By Tim Mastro

LEWES — Beebe Healthcare’s Labor & Delivery department welcomed its first child of 2023 at 12:51 a.m. Sunday.

Baby girl Alya Itzae Colon Morales was born to Norma Morales Perez and Ricard Colon Alsina. She weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 21 inches in height.

Every year, Beebe team members take up a collection to provide a basket of baby items to the first newborn’s family. Plus, this year, an anonymous community member hand-knitted a blanket, sweater and hat for her.

Baby-friendly hospitals like Beebe ensure that every woman delivering a child knows the importance of breastfeeding and learns not only the benefits of the practice but also how to initiate it immediately after delivery.

Such facilities also initiate skin-to-skin contact following births, keep moms and babies in the same rooms, and support mothers with the use of lactation consultants.

Additionally, Beebe is recognized by the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification program as a “Safe Sleep Champion” for its commitment to best practices and education on infant slumber. The initiative was created to prevent babies’ sleep-related deaths due to accidental suffocation.