Health Division

Becoming a Baby-friendly Provider

The Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF to help promote breastfeeding in the hospital setting and serve as a resource for mothers to get knowledgeable breastfeeding support. As part of the initiative, there are steps that need to be met in order for a hospital to become certified as Baby-friendly.

Steps to becoming a certified Baby-friendly provider

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all healthcare staff.
2. Train all healthcare staff in the skills necessary to implement this policy.
3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
6. Give 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 pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or birth center.

For more information contact Laura Grimmett, Johnson County WIC Program Manager, at 913-826-1250 or Laura.Grimmett@jocogov.org.

Helpful Links

• 2013 U.S. Breastfeeding Report Card (published by the CDC)
• Baby-Friendly USA
• Hospitals Already Certified as Baby-Friendly
• Best Fed Beginnings -- National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality
• Women's Health -- Office on Women's Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Breastfeeding -- Office on Women's Health
• The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding
• Surgeon General Fact Sheet
• How Doctors Can Help
• How Nurses Can Help
• Evidence-Informed Key Messages and Resources -- manual to provide service providers with simple messages to support the Baby-friendly Initiative.
• Breastfeeding Guide -- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Break Time for Nursing Mothers -- United States Department of Labor
• Baby Steps to Home -- a guide to prepare NICU parents for home.
• Hospital Support for Breastfeeding -- CDC Vital Signs
• Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative Training Materials -- UNICEF
• Baby-Friendly Training -- Training for the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative