Caboolture Hospital Maternity Unit successfully achieved BFHI - Baby Friendly Health Initiative - accreditation. The attainment of BFHI accreditation is the Gold Standard in Maternity Services.
The success is a culmination of many hours work and dedication by the members of the team. The team was lead by midwives - Marion Baker, Annie Sheppard, Chris Sheppard and all midwives.
As an integral part of the accreditation process, all midwives who assist with breastfeeding were required to undertake a specific learning package, achieve clinical skills and are now required to continuously update their skills and knowledge. The major benefit for the mothers is the consistency of advice they receive.
For the health care consumer, this is a major benefit for the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding. Our community can rest assured that no matter what department of the hospital a breastfeeding mother visits or is an inpatient of, there are set policies and procedures for all staff to follow regarding breastfeeding. The policies are based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) 10 steps for successful breastfeeding. The ten steps are -
- Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff
- Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy
- Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding
- Place babies in skin-to-skin contact with their mothers immediately following birth for at least an hour and encourage mothers to recognise when their babies are ready to breastfeed, offering help if needed.
- Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants
- Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk, unless medically indicated
- Practice rooming-in, allow mothers and infants to remain together-24 hours a day
- Encourage breastfeeding on demand
- Give no artificial teats or dummies to breastfeeding infants
- Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support and refer mothers on discharge from the facility.
The staff of the Maternity Unit will work tirelssly to ensure continued compliance with the WHO code.
Be watching for a new monthly column - ''The Breastfeeding Express''.