Breastfeeding Support in Spanish Neonatal Intensive Care Units and the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative

Abstract

The Spanish NICUs in hospitals with BFHI accreditation or in the process of being accredited have better implementation of practices to promote and support breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding patterns in cohort infants at a high-risk fetal, neonatal and child referral center in Brazil: a correspondence analysis

“…The groups identified in the correspondence analysis showed a pattern similar to other studies in which friendly paediatric breastfeeding practices may demonstrate a positive effect on breastfeeding at hospital discharge [ 19 , 37 ], an important condition for maintaining this practice [ 38 ].…”

Compliance with the “Baby‐friendly Hospital Initiative for Neonatal Wards” in 36 countries

“…It has been shown that compliance with BFHI standards was significantly higher when reported by staff/managers than parents themselves (Haiek, ). Still, health care professional self‐reports remain one of the most accessible sources of information to measure compliance, and comparison of the present results was done with such studies (Alonso‐Diaz et al, ; Grizzard et al, ; Maastrup et al, ).…”

“…Higher scores obtained by neonatal wards in hospitals ever‐designated Baby‐friendly may be related to the fact that BFHI certification includes some practices related to neonatal care, but it may also demonstrate that maternity and neonatal wards do not operate in isolation (Taylor, Gribble, Sheehan, Schmied, & Dykes, ) and the certification process in one ward may have a beneficial effect on the revision of policies and practices of the other one (Alonso‐Diaz et al, ). Even though only four countries in the present survey had a Baby‐friendly neonatal certification process separate from the original one, 60% of the respondents expressed intentions to obtain or maintain BFHI certification for their neonatal ward.…”

“…Restrictions in parents' presence beside their infant in neonatal wards have decreased in the last decades (Davis et al, ). However, studies continue to document differences between countries, for example, with more restrictions noted in Southern than Northern Europe (Alonso‐Diaz et al, ; Greisen et al, ; Maastrup et al, ; Pallas‐Alonso et al, ), indicating more efforts are required to protect the rights of infants to be cared for by their parents (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, ). Challenges involved in avoiding mother–infant separations are well recognized (Flacking et al, ); it has previously been found that Step 7 was one of the least implemented steps in maternity wards (Haiek, ).…”

“…However, most surveys have relied on health‐care professional self‐reports, being the most accessible source of information (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Crivelli‐Kovach & Chung, ; Grizzard, Bartick, Nikolov, Griffin, & Lee, ). To date only Denmark and Spain have published countrywide surveys on breastfeeding‐related policies and practices in neonatal wards, both of which are from the manager's perspective (Alonso‐Diaz et al, ; Maastrup et al, ). Thus, such policies and practices have not been documented in most countries.…”