BABY FRIENDLY HOSPITAL INITIATIVE
Baby friendly hospital initiative (BFHI) is a worldwide movement, launched in 1992 to protect, promote and support exclusive breastfeeding, jointly sponsored by WHO, UNICEF and allied organizations.
Revised and expanded version of BFHI has been implemented by UNICEF and WHO in 2009.Objectives: BFHI aims to:
• Promote correct breastfeeding practices at delivery centers,
• Certify the hospitals following these practices,
• Train and motivate the staff of these hospitals.
Promotion of other baby and mother friendly activities, e.g. antenatal care, essential newborn care, immunization and appropriate management of diarrhea or acute respiratory infections, has been included in further expansion of this program, termed BFHI plus.
Breastfeeding policy: A baby-friendly hospital is expected to follow and promote correct breastfeeding practices, included in a well-defined and written breastfeeding policy.
BFHI certification: A hospital is certified as baby friendly after careful evaluation and physical verification of breastfeeding practices by trained and certified assessors.
The certifying criteria for a baby-friendly hospital are: (a) having minimum 250 deliveries/year, (b) following ten steps for successful breastfeeding (Table 5.6), and
(c) creating baby-friendly community in their locality.
| TABLE 5.6: Ten steps to successful lactation | |
| 1. | A written breastfeeding policy |
| 2. | Training of health-staff in breastfeeding promotional skills |
| 3. | Antenatal counseling towards breastfeeding |
| 4. | Initiation of breastfeeding, within 30 minutes of delivery |
| 5. | Exclusive breastfeeding and no pre-lacteal feeds |
| 6. | Practicing rooming-in |
| 7. | Encourage demand feeding |
| 8. | No artificial teats/pacifiers to breastfeeding infants |
| 9. | Correct breastfeeding practices and continuance of lactation by EBM, even if the baby is separated from mother for medical reasons |
| 10. | Breastfeeding support groups |
EBM : Expressed breast milk
A hospital also benefits by BFHI certification as it gets:
(a) public recognition and more maternity work input,
(b) IeC material for distribution to mothers, and (c) better neonatal survival and lower morbidity.
5.4