Our Maternity Services were the first service to achieve the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) GOLD accreditation in 2017 and then revalidation in 2018 and 2021. This accreditation demonstrates long term sustainability of the BFI infant feeding and relationship building standards and progression beyond them.
For information about the Maternity BFI standards please click here.
The Maternity BFI standards enable our staff to:
- Support pregnant women to recognise the importance of breastfeeding and early relationships for the health and wellbeing of their baby
- Support all mothers and babies to initiate a close relationship and feeding soon after birth
- Enable mothers to get breastfeeding off to a good start
- Support mothers to make informed decisions and receive support when feeding their baby formula milk
- Support parents to have a close and loving relationship with their baby and know why this is important
Our infant feeding webpage has lots of information about infant feeding and relationship building for parents to see. Please click the infant feeding link on this page.
The BFI GOLD standards aim to embed sustainable leadership, a positive culture, ongoing monitoring and continued progression across services. These standards provide a solid foundation on which services can sustain and progress the Baby Friendly standards into the future, helping them continue to promote, protect and support breastfeeding and to support all mothers to build a close and loving relationship with their baby. We continue to progress our service in many ways and really value listening to the experiences of families to help us keep progressing year on year.
To read our BFI GOLD blog please click here.
“We know that the first days and weeks of a child’s life can determine their future, which is why we’re working in public services to help new parents give their babies the love, care and nourishment they need to get the best start in life. The Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative works with health professionals – from midwives to neonatal nurses to health visitors – to make sure new mothers get expert support to nurture and feed their baby, whenever they need it.”
