Developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) is a quality improvement strategy that strives to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding and subsequently support health care services to optimize maternal health and child survival (Breastfeeding Committee for Canada (BCC),2021). As such, the ‘Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding’ and “International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes’ (the Code) define the minimal standard of care for birthing persons/mothers and newborns accessing hospital services (BCC, 2021). The second step within these standards requires that “staff have the competencies (knowledge, attitudes and skills) necessary to support mothers/birthing parents to meet their infant feeding goals” (BCC, 2021).
Education for nurses and interdisciplinary team members with subsequent competency assessment is critical to best support and empower lactating persons and their families to breast/chest feed their newborns and to facilitate streamlined transitions to community supports. The BFI requires that greater/equal to 80% of direct care providers within the facility receive education about BFI to support their role within 6 months of hire. Recent changes to the BFI 10 steps, require that staff not only receive education, but complete verification checklists to demonstrate a minimum competency of 80% in necessary attitudes, skills, and knowledge to best uphold evidence-informed practices. The BFI requires that competency verification be reviewed for all direct healthcare providers every 2 years.
