Evaluation of the Impact of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative on Rates of Breastfeeding

Abstract

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is based on the Ten Steps to Successful Breast-Feeding, a program which summarize the practices that maternity wards need to adopt to support breastfeeding.1 There are more than 16 000 Baby-Friendly Hospitals throughout the world, and of these, more than 200 are located in Brazil. Despite the abundance of studies evaluating each of the 10 steps or a combination of them, information on the impact of BFHI on the duration of breastfeeding is limited. Recently, a large randomized controlled trial including 31 hospitals in Belarus showed that an intervention based on BFHI principles increased breastfeeding rates, especially exclusive breastfeeding.2 The present study reproduced these results using a less complex study design.