The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recently issued their new document, Protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in facilities providing maternity and newborn services: The…
Many of my clients tell me that they want their breastfeeding policy to conform to the requirements set forth by Baby-Friendly USA. But conforming to Baby-Friendly’s requirement, while…
At a conference recently, I spoke with hundreds of IBCLCs. Most were nurses in hospitals, but that’s about the only generalization I can make about…
Maybe you’ve already started your journey to becoming Baby-Friendly. You might be wondering how to provide staff training for Baby-Friendly. Step 2 specifies that the facility…
There are many reasons for why hospitals “can’t” go Baby-Friendly, but experience shows that when the obstacles are addressed, they actually can. I’ve addressed “Be” objections and “Do”…
In an earlier blog, I addressed “Be”-oriented objections for why your hospital “can’t” go Baby-Friendly. Now, let’s look at reasons related to what hospitals do —…
People often say, “We can’t go Baby-Friendly at our hospital.” They ask “Why can’t I get my hospital to change its practices?” What they mean…
Everyone thinks they understand Step One of the Ten Steps, which reads “Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.”…
I’ve warned against writing long-winded, rambling policies, and I’ve tackled the “bare bones” of what to include in your policy statement. But what is the…
“We’re planning to submit our hospital’s breastfeeding policy to Baby-Friendly USA,” I often hear. “If they don’t like it, they’ll help us fix it, right?”…