Is your birthing hospital "Baby-Friendly" designated?
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Four Delaware hospitals, Beebe Healthcare, Milford Memorial Hospital, Kent General Hospital, and Christiana Care Health System have received the "Baby-Friendly Hospital" designation!  Saint Francis Hospital is working towards designation. To find Baby-Friendly designated hospitals, visit the locator on Baby Friendly USA. 

If you plan on delivering in Delaware, visit the resources below to see what you can expect. 
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The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program  sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations  Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize hospitals and  birthing centers that help parents make an informed choice about infant feeding.  The BFHI assists hospitals in giving mothers the information,  confidence, and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue  breastfeeding, and gives special recognition to hospitals that have done  so.

Hospitals that have implemented the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (as part of the BFHI process) have created environments that ensure you are supported in your choice to breastfeed.

 The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are:
  1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
  2.  Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
  3.  Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
  4.  Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within an hour of birth.
  5.  Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they should be separated from their infants.
  6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated.
  7. Practice "rooming in" by allowing mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.
  8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
  9. Give no artificial nipples, pacifiers, dummies, or soothers to breastfeeding infants.
  10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or birthing center.

For more information, visit Baby Friendly USA. 
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