| Critical management procedures |
- Hospital policies:
- Comply fully with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and relevant World Health Assembly resolutions
- Have a written infant feeding policy that is routinely communicated to staff and parents
- Establish ongoing monitoring and data-management systems
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- Ensure that staff have sufficient knowledge, competence, and skills to support breastfeeding
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| Key clinical practices |
- Discuss the importance and management of breastfeeding with pregnant women and their families
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- Facilitate immediate and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact, and support mothers to initiate breastfeeding as soon as possible after birth
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- Support mothers to initiate and maintain breastfeeding and manage common difficulties
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- Do not provide breastfed newborns any food or fluids other than breast milk, unless medically indicated
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- Enable mothers and their infants to remain together and to practice rooming-in 24 hours a day
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- Support mothers to recognize and respond to their infants' cues for feeding
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- Counsel mothers on the use and risks of feeding bottles, teats, and pacifiers
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- Coordinate discharge so that parents and their infants have timely access to ongoing support and care
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