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The role of health care centers:
More than one million infants worldwide die
every year because they are not breastfed or are given other
foods too early. Millions more live in poor health, contract
preventable diseases, and battle malnutrition simply due to
the decrease in the prevalence of breastfeeding.
Sadly, a large portion of the decline in
breastfeeding is inadvertently a result of routine practices
that are still in place in many of the maternity hospitals
and health care centers around the world. Examples of such
poor hospital practices are the routine separation of
children from their mothers after birth, standard prelacteal
feeds of water, glucose and/or formula milks and allowing
free samples of formula milk to be used and distributed for
the maternity care facility.
Health workers and health care specialist
hold a key role in the success or failure of breastfeeding.
When they failure to provide support, assistance, and
accurate advice to mothers it leaves mothers susceptible to
failure. Especially those who are facing problem,
difficulties or have lack of experience and knowledge need
the proper support of those in the health care field.
Therefore, the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued
a joint statement in 1989 under the name Baby-friendly
Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in which they appeal to all
health care service providers to apply the following Ten
Steps to Successful Breastfeeding:
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Have a
written breastfeeding policy that is routinely
communicated to all health care staff.
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Train
all health care staff in skills necessary to implement
this policy.
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Inform
all pregnant women about the benefits and management of
breastfeeding.
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Help
mothers initiate breastfeeding within one half-hour of
birth.
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Show
mothers how to breastfeed and maintain lactation, even
if they should be separated from their infants.
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Give
newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk,
unless medically indicated.
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Practice rooming in - that is, allow mothers and infants
to remain together 24 hours a day.
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Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
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Give no
artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or
soothers) to breastfeeding infants.
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Foster
the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and
refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or
clinic
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