Just 10 Steps!

Have you noticed that its World Breastfeeding Week? :) Only 10 steps towards successful breastfeeding and the Baby Friendly Way!

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding.

 The "Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding" are the foundation of BFHI and summarize the maternity practices necessary to support breastfeeding. A maternity facility can be designated 'baby-friendly' when it does not accept free or low-cost breastmilk substitutes, feeding bottles or teats, and has implemented these 10 specific steps to support successful breastfeeding.


The Ten Steps To Successful Breastfeeding

The BFHI promotes, protects, and supports breastfeeding through The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding for Hospitals, as outlined by UNICEF/WHO. The steps for the United States are:

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
    
2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
    
3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
    
4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth.
    
5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they should be separated from their infants.
    
6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically indicated.
    
7. Practice rooming-in - allow mothers and infants to remain together - 24 hours a day.
    
8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
    
9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants.
    
10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.

There are only 86 Baby-Friendly hospitals and birth centers in the US (as of December 2009).
There are none in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada or Georgia, just to name a few.