|
|
A baby friendly hospital is one that meets all the
requirements of the
ten steps to successful breastfeeding
as
designated by WHO.
The baby friendly hospital initiative was launched in 1992, and is now
operating in 134 countries.
By March of 2002 there were more than 15,000
hospitals around the world that had been certified as baby friendly.
Most of these baby friendly hospitals are not in the United States.
The major barriers to
becoming baby friendly in the United States are:
- Slow organization of an accreditation group, and
- The distribution of free breast milk substitutes by the formula
manufacturers to hospitals in the United States.
By February, 2008, 63 hospitals and
birth centers in the United States
have been certified as baby friendly.
Two studies (one in Italy and one in the United States)
show that training health care personnel to implement the Baby
Friendly Hospital Initiative and the resulting improved compliance
with the ten steps to successful breastfeeding improves the rates of
exclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge. Rates of exclusive
breastfeeding at hospital discharge in the Italian hospitals increased
from 41% to 77% and in the urban Boston, MA hospital from 5% to 33%
(
Cattaneo, 2001
, and
Philipp, 2001
).
In Brazil, two years after a hospital was certified as a Baby Friendly
Hospital, infants were breastfed for a significantly longer period of
time, and the average duration of exclusive breastfeeding doubled from
one to two months. This effect was greatest in infants born to
families with income below the mean income of the region
(
Braun, 2003
).
|
