Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Through Bestfed Beginnings

2 Why Pursue Baby Friendly Certification?

✤ The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative is a global program to encourage and recognize hospitals that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding.

✤ Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates breastfeeding is optimal method of infant feeding ✤ Breastfeeding is single most powerful preventative modality to reduce risk of common causes of infant morbidity ✤ Breastfeeding creates significant savings in health care dollars ✤ Recognition as a Baby Friendly institution has national and international credibility and prestige

Why Pursue Baby Friendly Certification?

• Numerous professional organizations actively encourage programs for support and management of breastfeeding – AAP recommends exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months of age, and continued breastfeeding with complementary foods up to one year – Who recommends breastfeeding up to two years of age and beyond 2010 had a goal of 75% early postpartum breastfeeding. This goal is suggested to go to 85% 3

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How Did We Get To This Point

• Best Fed Beginnings is a project of the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ), with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in close partnership with Baby Friendly USA • • • Made aware grant offered to assist hospitals to pursue Baby Friendly designation 20,000 hospitals accredited world wide but only 200 hospitals accredited in USA • Team was quickly assembled to meet the grant application deadline • The grant was awarded now working towards 2014 accreditation

5 Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative at St. Vincent

Team includes:

 administrative leader  department leader  lactation staff  midwife  peds and OB providers  nursing educator  clinic leadership  staff nurses  mother advocate

How Do We Achieve Baby Friendly Status?

NICHQ - Change managers

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Utilize proven techniques to achieve successful healthcare change Hospital accountable to implement the specific steps with help through

regional learning sessions webinars ilab where stats shown group sharing 6

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The 10 Steps

1.

Written infant feeding policy 2.

Train health care staff in skills to implement policy 3.

Inform pregnant women of benefits/management of breastfeeding 4.

Skin to skin immediately following birth 5.

Assist mothers with breastfeeding even when separated from infant 6.

Exclusive breastfeeding except when medically necessary 7.

Rooming-in 24 hours a day 8.

All babies feeding on cue 9.

No pacifiers or artificial nipples for breastfeeding infants 10.

Refer mothers to breastfeeding support at discharge

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The 10 Steps

• Use the Guidelines and Evaluation for Baby Friendly Designation – Really 64 steps – Sounds simple but very difficult » Requires change in culture, attitude and work flow » Significant training for nurses and providers – Done in collaboration with Prevea OB Department – Actual survey with 2 nurses over 2 days » Interview nurses and mothers, review records

Training Tools 9

In Pursuit of Baby Friendly Designation •

Questions

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