The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is an international program of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The Initiative celebrates hospitals and birth centers that have put policies and practices in place to enable parents to make informed choices about how they feed and care for their babies. Hospitals and birth centers that have implemented the following Ten Steps create an optimal environment for the initiation of breastfeeding.
The Ten Steps To Successful Breastfeeding
Maintain a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
Give infants no food or drink other than breastmilk, unless medically indicated.
Practice “rooming in”-- allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.
Encourage unrestricted breastfeeding.
Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.
What can I do if my hospital is not yet Baby-Friendly?
You can ask your local hospital what steps they have taken to become Baby-Friendly. You might also ask what you could do to help!
By attending breastfeeding classes before your baby is born, you will receive help and encouragement to get off to the best start nursing your baby! You will have the greatest success breastfeeding if you nurse your baby in the first hour of life and then continue to frequently and exclusively breastfeed. It is not recommended for mothers and babies to be separated. Keeping your baby close by rooming-in (keeping your baby with you in your room) will make it easier for you to learn your baby’s feeding cues such as putting a hand to his or her mouth or rooting. No one is going to know your baby like you and dad!
You can help your local hospital work towards Baby-Friendly status by saying “No thanks” to the free formula and gift bags that arrive in the mail or are given to you. Hospitals need to hear from consumers that what you want is excellent healthcare education, not free products. They need to know that you especially do not want free products that will diminish your breastfeeding efforts and therefore decrease the health benefits that baby and mom receive from breastfeeding! Hospitals cannot be named Baby-Friendly until they stop giving out formula discharge bags to breastfeeding moms, and they need your support. Moms who want to breastfeed will be encouraged to exclusively breastfeed so they can get off to the best start!