Resources

The CDC Guide to Strategies to Support Breastfeeding Mothers and Babies
The Guide includes a chapter on maternity care practices, and it provides descriptions and examples of different ways to improve maternity care practices.

Infant Safety in Maternity Care Practices that Support Breastfeeding in US Birth Facilities
This CDC webpage provides links to documents and resources for current guidance related to breastfeeding and infant safety in US maternity hospitals.

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding
This document outlines steps that can be taken to remove some of the obstacles faced by women who want to breastfeed their babies, including seven actions related to health care.

Implementation Guidance: Protecting, Promoting, and Supporting Breastfeeding in Facilities Providing Maternity and Newborn Services: The Revised Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative 2018
This WHO guidance document is intended to help policy makers, breastfeeding and nutrition programs, and hospital management officials implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.

The Baby-Friendly USA Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria
Baby-Friendly USA is the US organization responsible for coordinating and conducting all activities necessary to confer the Baby-Friendly designation. The Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria describe the standards of maternity care that hospitals should strive to achieve for all women and infants and include the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. This resource may be helpful for program officials working with hospitals to implement evidenced-based maternity care practices and/or working toward the Baby-Friendly designation.

Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine’s Model Maternity Policy Supportive of Breastfeeding
This model policy aligns with the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and can be used by hospitals when implementing or modifying hospital maternity care policies.