John Radcliffe Hospital becomes even more Baby Friendly

The Maternity and Newborn Care Unit teams at the John Radcliffe Hospital have been awarded the Stage 2 Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Accreditation by UNICEF for their efforts to promote, protect and support breastfeeding.

The aim of the Baby Friendly Initiative is to train staff to be able to educate women about the benefits of breastfeeding so that they can make an informed choice about feeding their baby.

To achieve Stage 2 all staff should be skilled in providing appropriate support to women who wish to breastfeed to enable them to get breastfeeding off to a good start.

In the run up to the assessment, nearly 800 members of staff across both units, including midwives, nurses and nursery nurses, doctors and support workers, have been trained to support parents to have a close and loving relationship with their baby and make an informed decision about feeding.

As a result, following a successful assessment, UNICEF BFI awarded both units the Stage 2 Accreditation.

Alex Mulford, Interim Maternity Infant Feeding Lead, said: "This award means a lot to us. It is recognition of the fact that our staff have the skills and knowledge to help families in those critical early days.

"Currently, 81 percent of women having their babies in our Trust start breastfeeding. However, we know that many mothers will not feed for as long as they had hoped. We anticipate that our skilled workforce will help mothers to overcome any initial difficulties enabling them to feed for as long as they would like."

Gillian Denton, Neonatal Feeding Lead, said: "We are very proud to be the first Level 3 (intensive care) Newborn Care Unit in the Thames valley and Wessex network to be awarded the Stage 2 accreditation.

"We can never stress enough the importance of breastfeeding to protect babies against a wide range of serious illnesses as well as reducing the mother's risk of postnatal depression, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and some cancers.

"Our goal as a Newborn Care Unit is to ensure that all mothers who wish to breastfeed receive consistent advice and practical support to enable them to do so and that all families, no matter their feeding choice, are supported to develop a close and loving relationship with their baby."

In the progression to Stage 3, which is the full UNICEF BFI Accreditation, there will also be a focus on antenatal education. The Trust is working on ensuring that all parents have access to antenatal sessions. Whilst some mothers access the sessions already provided, others do not. Therefore, staff are considering innovative ways of reaching those mothers who currently do not attend.

Ms Mulford continued: "As well as informing future parents of why breastfeeding matters, we will cover what to expect in the early days.  Breastfeeding is a learnt skill and some mothers and babies need more help than others to get feeding off to a good start.

"We believe that with more education we can help women to feel more confident which will enable them to overcome any initial problems they encounter."

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is committed to achieving full UNICEF Baby Friendly Accreditation across our services, which also include the Spires and Horton Midwifery-led Units. Maternity aims to be awarded the Accreditation (Stage 3) by December 2019, whereas the Newborn Care Unit expects to achieve it by March 2019.

Across Oxfordshire a number of organisations are already fully accredited UNICEF Baby Friendly. These include the Trust's Wallingford and Chipping Norton centres, as well as Oxford Brookes University which trains midwives, and the Health Visiting Service provided by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Pictured: from left, Alex Mulford, Interim Infant Feeding Lead, Naomi Morton, Infant Feeding Midwife, Rosie Freshwater, Infant Feeding Support Worker, Sarah Marklew-Brown, Infant Feeding Midwife.