Taking a Road Trip to Baby Friendly USA: One Community Hospital's Journey
- Identify myths and roadblocks on the drive to Baby Friendly USA
- Complete 10 steps for a productive road trip
- Prepare for a successful site visit by being a good tour guide
A 2010 Healthy People Objective is to increase breastfeeding to at least 75% of mothers during the early postpartum period. Also, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that mothers exclusively breastfeed for the first six months.
Proposed change:
Become a designated Baby Friendly USA hospital to support leading organizations’ stated goals on breastfeeding. Research shows that a Baby Friendly USA designation increases the rates of exclusive breastfeeding, rooming in and patient satisfaction for participating hospitals.
Implementation, outcomes and evaluation:
Baby Friendly components are sometimes met with resistance from staff and physicians. Baby Friendly asks staff to reverse age-old ideas of sending infants to the nursery so mothers can sleep, offering supplementation of formula until lactation is established, using pacifiers to satisfy suckling, and keeping mothers and healthy babies apart during medical procedures. Becoming Baby Friendly often demands a change in practice toward family-centered care. The program teaches breastfeeding skills to mothers, supports skin-to-skin contact soon after birth, promotes rooming in versus nursery care for healthy infants and offers breastfeeding resources upon discharge.
There are common myths about what becoming Baby Friendly means that must be addressed through staff education. These include: Mothers will have no choice in how to feed their babies; costs will increase significantly; and mothers will miss receiving complementary formula bags. Barriers to carrying out Baby Friendly goals also exist, demanding staff education and training. Barriers include: Supplying consistent information to parents and staff regarding breastfeeding; meeting the program’s education requirements; keeping moms and babies together 23 hours via rooming in; and changing practice to meet skin-to-skin requirements.
Implementing the Baby Friendly Program demands hospitals complete 10 research-based steps. Each hospital approaches these steps uniquely. This presentation tells the story of one community hospital’s journey toward becoming Baby Friendly. It gives a timeline of baby-friendly events and actions that took place over a course of approximately five years. The hospital achieved its goal in 2009 and became the 85th hospital in the U.S. to achieve Baby Friendly status. The hospital has a breastfeeding rate of over 90% for new moms. Approximately one-third of unit nurses are certified lactation counselors. A Baby Friendly committee continually evaluates success of, and enhancements for, the program.
Implications for nursing practice:
Change philosophy to baby friendly methods; address myths and barriers about baby friendly through training and education
Keywords:
baby friendly implementation, breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, rooming in
