The
Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are:
- Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all
health care staff.
- Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
- Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
- Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
- Show mothers how to breastfeed, and how to maintain lactation even if they
should be separated from their infants.
- Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk unless medically
indicated.
- Practice rooming in-allow mothers and infants to remain together-24 hours a day.
- Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
- Give no artificial teats (also called bottle nipples) or pacifiers to breastfeeding infants.
- Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers
to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.
The North Carolina Maternity Center Breastfeeding-Friendly Designation
is valid for a period of three years. This initiative promotes a continuum
of quality improvement and is endorsed by the North Carolina Hospital
Association and the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force.
Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory, N.C., is the region’s largest
not-for-profit, public healthcare system and serves the community without
direct funding from taxes. CVMC provides and promotes physical, mental,
emotional and spiritual well-being of the public in addition to serving
as a center for health education, wellness services, preventive medicine
and acute care. CVMC has received three Magnet designations from the American
Nurses Credentialing Center and has been recognized as one of America’s
Best 100 Hospitals for Patient Experience by WomenCertified®. For
more information, please visit
http://www.catawbavalleymedical.org.