Step 6 Standards
- No food or drink other than breastmilk should be given to breastfed babies unless:
- there is an acceptable clinical reason, the baby is unable to breastfeed and there is no/insufficient breastmilk available
- the mother has made a fully informed choice to feed her baby other than from the breast.
- No promotion for infant food or drink other than breastmilk should be displayed or distributed to mothers or staff in the facility.
Criteria measured at each stage of the assessment process for Step 6
Requirements at Stage 1:
- The head of service to provide written confirmation that there is no promotion of infant food or drink other than breastmilk allowed in the health-care facility.
- Hypoglycaemia guidelines and reluctant feeder guidelines to be provided. These guidelines to be evidence based, safe and protective of exclusive breastfeeding.*
Requirements at Stage 3:
- All breastfeeding mothers to confirm that their baby was given no food or drink other than breastmilk unless this was clinically indicated or the result of a fully informed maternal choice.
- All policies and guidelines underpin good practice.
- No promotion of infant food or drink other than breastmilk to be found anywhere in the unit.
*NB - The Baby Friendly Initiative is currently producing a guidance document for developing reluctant feeder guidelines. Until this is ready, facilities may wish to refer to two examples from Baby Friendly facilities that are currently in use. They are available to download on the right.
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