St. Luke’s Sugar Land Re-Designated as Texas Ten Step Hospital

Sugar Land, TX (December 2, 2025) — St. Luke’s Health - Sugar Land Hospital is honored to announce our recent re-designation by Texas Health and Human Services as a Texas Ten Step (TTS) facility — an important milestone in Texas’ statewide commitment to improving maternity care and optimal breastfeeding support for new moms and their babies.

As part of the TTS program for the past six years, St. Luke's Sugar Land aligns with the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, an initiative that supports moms and their babies with breastfeeding initiation, breastfeeding exclusivity for a minimum of six months, and the continuation of breastfeeding for two years or beyond.

St. Luke’s Sugar Land currently implements many steps that improve breastfeeding support, most notably: consistently adhering to immediate, uninterrupted skin to skin care with healthy term babies, initiation of breastfeeding within 1 hour of the birth, and providing education to parents on the risks of formula supplements. Our consistent Texas Ten Step designation and the evidence-based practices we follow illustrate our continued commitment to our patients. 

In Texas, 83 percent of new moms start breastfeeding in the hospital, but only 23 percent continue to exclusively breastfeed until their baby is six months of age. The TTS program works with birthing facilities to develop environments where policies and practices support mothers’ informed infant feeding decisions. Improving maternity practices is also particularly important for families who are most vulnerable to poor health outcomes.

Breastfeeding provides health benefits for babies, such as reduced risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), ear infections, stomach-related infections, asthma and childhood obesity. In addition to health impacts, breastfeeding a baby for one year could save a family between $900 and $2,000 in annual health care and formula expenses.

“Expectant mothers look to our health care system to help them grow their families and care for their new babies,” said Pamela O'Connell, MSN, RN, Director of Women's Services at St. Luke's Health - Sugar Land Hospital Family Birthing Center. “It is up to our industry to provide maternity care that supports, protects and promotes breastfeeding to our newest Texans — and puts them at the forefront of our care.”