Breastfeeding-friendly activities in hospitals and child care programs: Making it happen

Background

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action (2011) addresses the need for maternity and community support to enable mothers to meet their breastfeeding goals.  This paper describes the role of an academic institute in informing and supporting related State level activities.

Methods

Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute (CGBI) hosted a meeting of stakeholders to discuss breastfeeding needs in NC. As a result, a working group was formed to address the 2006 NC Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding, including academic, health professional and NGO groups, and delegates from the NC Division of Public Health (NCDPH). This group was invited to serve as a task force of the NC Child Fatality Task Force.

Results

Outcomes of this effort included the call for a NC Maternity Care Breastfeeding-Friendly Designation (NCMCBFD); CGBI supported development of criteria and the designation application based on CGBI research and national criteria.  A similar designation process, the NC Breastfeeding-Friendly Childcare Designation (NCBFCCD), was developed as part of a USDA grant to NCDPH Special Nutrition Programs Unit, following the same development process, creating criteria based on CGBI work with breastfeeding-friendly child care.  Challenges included continuity of state agency staffing and time delays.

Conclusions

Since the NCMCBFD launch in 2010, 30 designations have been awarded, and several other hospitals have changed practices; other states have used this approach.  Preliminary data on the NCBFCCD, newly-launched in 2014, are being collected.  Involvement of stakeholders supported the successful State breastfeeding designation initiatives. The unique lessons learned from these efforts may inform other state actions.