TEN STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL BREASTFEEDING
Critical Management Procedures
1. Establish a breastfeeding policy within the facility to protect, promote and support breast milk feeding and breastfeeding.
a) Fully implement the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and the relevant World Health Assembly resolutions.
b) Establish a written infant feeding policy that is routinely communicated to staff and parents.
c) Establish ongoing monitoring and data management systems.
2. Ensure that staff have the knowledge, competence and skills required to support mothers with breastfeeding.
Key Clinical Practices
3. Inform pregnant women and their families about the importance and management of breastfeeding.
4. Facilitate skin-to-skin contact between mothers and their babies as soon as possible after birth. Support mothers to initiate breastfeeding promptly and ensure that skin-to-skin contact remains uninterrupted.
5. Support mothers to initiate and maintain breastfeeding and manage common difficulties.
6. Do not provide newborns with any food or fluids other than breast milk unless medically indicated.
7. Enable mothers and their babies to remain together and practise rooming-in 24 hours a day.
8. Support mothers to recognise and respond to their babies’ hunger cues.
9. Counsel mothers on the use and risks of feeding bottles and pacifiers.
10. Before discharge, inform parents about the centres where they and their babies can access ongoing breastfeeding support and care.
These recommendations for successful breastfeeding should be used as a standard for evaluating the services provided by all healthcare facilities.