Baby-friendly Hospital
Initiative Training Course for Maternity Staff
- Available in:
- Srpski
- English
Highlights
The first few hours and days of a newborn baby’s life are a critical window for establishing breastfeeding and for providing mothers with the support they need to breastfeed successfully. Since 1991, the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) has helped to motivate facilities providing maternity and newborn baby services worldwide to better support breastfeeding. It has been adopted by many countries and organizations. The BFHI aims to provide a health-care environment that supports mothers to acquire the skills necessary to exclusively breastfeed for six months, and to continue breastfeeding for two years or beyond.
Breastfeeding and appropriate, safe and timely complementary feeding are fundamental to the health and development of children, and important for the health of their mothers. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have long recognized the need for the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and for sustained breastfeeding up to two years of age or beyond.
