Baby Friendly Community Initiative
The Baby Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI) aims to protect, promote and support breastfeeding for healthy mothers and babies. The New Zealand Breastfeeding Authority was contracted by the Ministry of Health to facilitate the implementation of BFCI in health services in the community.
A Baby Friendly Community Service is a health service in the community which has practices that protect, promote and support breastfeeding to enable mothers to initiate and sustain breastfeeding of their babies. When babies are artificially fed, their mothers are provided with unbiased information and advice. All mothers therefore are provided with appropriate care and support.
New Zealand’s Seven Point Plan is based on the principles of The Ten Steps and extends them to include health services in the community. This is referred to as the Baby Friendly Community Initiative. In an effort to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates in New Zealand BFCI encourages and supports health services in the community to implement The Seven Point Plan.
The Seven Point Plan |
| The Seven Point Plan for the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding in the Community: |
| 1. | Have a written breastfeeding policy that routinely is communicated to all staff and volunteers. |
| 2. | Train all health care providers in the knowledge and skills necessary to implement the breastfeeding policy |
| 3. | Inform pregnant women and their families about the benefits and management of breastfeeding. |
| 4. | Support mothers to establish and maintain exclusive breastfeeding to six months. |
| 5. | Encourage sustained breastfeeding beyond six months to two years or more, alongside the introducation of appropriate, adequate and safe complementary foods. |
| 6. | Provide a welcoming atmosphere for breastfeeding families |
| 7. | Promote collaboration among health services, and between health services and the local community |
| Adapted with permission from: UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, 1999 (1)) The Baby Friendly Initiative in Community Health Services, 2002- The Breastfeeding Committee for Canada(2 |
Endorsement of the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and all subsequent relevant World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions is a prerequisite for designation as Baby Friendly even though it is not included as one of The Seven Points.
The objectives of the Baby Friendly Community Initiative are to:
1. |
Increase the percentage of babies who are breastfed: |
2. |
Increase the duration of exclusive breastfeeding; and |
3. |
Sustain breastfeeding after six months alongside the introduction of appropriate, adequate and safe complementary foods. |
Amendments and clarifications to the assessment documents have been made to recognise the “uniqueness” of the New Zealand health system and to encourage consistent evidence-based culturally appropriate practice at all health care facilities, where initiation of breastfeeding occurs.
The accreditation documents recognise:
1. |
The Treaty of Waitangi principles of protection, participation and partnership as an integral part of the Baby Friendly Initiative in Aotearoa New Zealand |
2. |
Informed consent is an important part of the BFCI process. Consultation with community service providers, ethnic / cultural groups and consumers is expected |
Each of the standards are clearly outlined in the Standards of Care for BFCI document.
Details of the data required including ethnicity, breastfeeding rates, complicance with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and the Seven Point Plan are identified in this document.
Please note: not all points are appicable to all service providers. It is therefore important to discuss each aspect of the enclosed information with your BFCI Coordinator to ensure you focus on the areas that are applicable to your services.
Implementing the standards associated with each area will enhance the infant feeding support of the service and increase the likelihood of a postive audit result.
NZBA recommends that the maternity facilities and health services in the same region support each other in working towards Baby Friendly designation. NZBA encourages all staff and volunteers within health services to implement best practice with respect to infant feeding.
