What is the Baby-Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI)?

The Baby-Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI) aims to support breastfeeding services in the community post-discharge from a maternity facility, and aligns to the BFHI programme in maternity services. This is to encourage mothers to sustain breastfeeding their infants through providing sound evidence-based materials for families and communities to support mothers over the longer term.

NZBA had the honour to administer the Baby Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI) until 2016. As of April 2025, the BFCI programme remains on hold.

A wide range of community services took part in the BFCI programme, including Māori helath providers, well child providers, primary care and LMCs.

BFCI is acknowledged as a key action in Outcome 2 of Ratuaki Whakamaua Whāngote│National Breastfeeding Strategy.

The Story of BFCI

Families and communities are indispensable resources for mothers in the education of infant and young child feeding. Evidence has shown that mother-to-mother support groups, peer counsellors and community-based workers can be very effective in helping mothers to initiate exclusive breastfeeding and sustain breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond.

In New Zealand arund 77 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed on discharge from baby-friendly hospitals. However, this percentage drops to 49 percent six weeks after birth (WCTO QI Framework, September 2024).

The BFCI plays an important role in creating supportive breastfeeding services in the community, just as BFHI has in maternity services.

The BFCI aims to protect, promote and support breastfeeding for healthy mothers and babies through the implementation of best practice standards of care, which are based on current scientific evidence, and set guidelines. The BFCI includes a broader focus on:

• providing community support for the initiation of breastfeeding to improve exclusive breastfeeding rates, and
• supporting mothers to increase the duration of breastfeeding alongside the approriate introduction of complemetary foods.

The vision of the BFCI Aotearoa New Zealand is to see the restoration of breastfeeding as the cultural norm. All community services participating in the BFCI are measured, monitored and to provide a high level of care for antenatal, birthing, postnatal and mothers with infants and/or young children in the community.

Staff in Baby Freindly accredited services must adopt best practice standards for infant and young child feeding that aim to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. Services must provide factual information and support for pregnant women and mothers. At the same time, they must ensure mothers who decide not to breastfeed are supported in thei decision, and provided with unbiased information and advice.

"NZBA wants a consistent standard of breastfeeding knowledge and skills to be available for women and their families in the wider community, so that they will be encouraged to initiate and continue breastfeeding and view it as the best food source for their infants." - Jane Cartwright, Former Executive Officer, NZBA