Breastfeeding offers significant protection against illness for the infant and numerous health benefits for the mother, including a decreased risk of breast cancer. In 1991, UNICEF and WHO launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative with the aim of increasing rates of breastfeeding. "Baby-Friendly" is a designation a maternity site can receive by demonstrating to external assessors complianc...

The purpose of this descriptive, cross-sectional study was to assess adherence to the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative "Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding" in certified hospitals in Brazil in 2002. The Ministry of Health ordered that all 172 hospitals certified from 1992 to 2000 be reassessed. Of the 167 eligible Baby-friendly Hospitals assessed, 137 (82%) met all of the 10 steps. Steps 2 a...

Introduction: Clinical policies of “10 steps of breast feeding” proposed by World Health Organization (WHO) can promote breast feeding. The goal of this study was to evaluate breast feeding in the first hour after birth and its relation to the influencing factors. Material and methods: In this cross-sectional study, the data is related to mothers and infants referring to two baby friendly hospi...

OBJECTIVE To describe mothers' exclusive breastfeeding intentions and whether Baby-Friendly hospital practices are associated with achieving these intentions. METHODS In the 2005-2007 Infant Feeding Practices Study II, women completed a prenatal questionnaire and approximately monthly questionnaires through 12 months. Mothers met their prenatal exclusive breastfeeding intention if their durat...

OBJECTIVE The objective was to evaluate implementation of the WHO/UNICEF "Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding" as defined by the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative in eight maternity hospitals in the Moscow region. Four maternity hospitals had been certified Baby- Friendly Hospitals (BFHs), the experimental group; and four maternity hospitals Not-as-Yet Baby Friendly, the control group (NBFHs)...