The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative

Abstract The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a worldwide movement started by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that is aimed at providing hospitals with a certification that guarantees the best possible patient-centered care for mothers and infants. It focuses on breastfeeding as optimal infant nutrition, and implements strategies to encourage and support mothers to breastfeed their infants exclusively for six months after birth. The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are a set of 10 simple, easy to understand guidelines developed by WHO and UNICEF for implementing this initiative in the hospital setting and are used as the foundation for the BFHI. This initiative has been successful in many countries across the globe since its initiation in the early 1990s, but has yet to become widespread within the United States. This thesis will examine the background of this initiative, its benefits for mothers and infants, and evaluate the progress of its implementation within the United States