The number of hospitals implementing a majority of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, a global standard for hospital care, nearly doubled from 2007 to 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Oct. 8.
Almost 54% of hospitals nationwide had implemented more than half of the Ten Steps by 2013, compared with 28.7% in 2007, according to data from the biennial Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care survey (MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64[39]:1112-7).
The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are policies and practices that form the core of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a program launched in 1991 by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund. The Ten Steps that hospitals can take include:
• “Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.”
• “Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth.”
• “Practice rooming-in – allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours per day.”
Since 2007, when the CDC first surveyed hospitals regarding the Ten Steps, the number of states with more than 60% of hospitals implementing a majority of the steps increased from 4 to 21; the number of states with less than 20% of hospitals implementing a majority dropped from 15 to 0, the CDC noted.
“Breastfeeding has immense health benefits for babies and their mothers,” Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director, said in a written statement. “More hospitals are better supporting new moms to breastfeed – every newborn should have the best possible start in life.”
