Los Angeles (June 28, 2016) –
Good Samaritan Hospital received the Baby-Friendly® designation by Baby-Friendly USA for its
implementation of the
Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and meeting the requirement of purchasing breast milk substitutes.
Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding were developed by a team of global experts and consists of evidence-based
practices that have been shown to increase breastfeeding initiation and
duration. Baby-Friendly hospitals and birthing facilities must adhere
to the Ten Steps to receive, and retain, a Baby-Friendly designation.
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 the 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
are separated from their infants.
- Give 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 pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
- Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers
to them on discharge from the hospital or birth center.
Baby-Friendly USA, Inc is the U.S. authority for the implementation of
the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (“BFHI”), a global program
sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The initiative encourages and recognizes
hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for
breastfeeding mothers and their babies. Based on the
Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, this prestigious international award recognizes birth facilities such
as Good Samaritan Hospital that offer breastfeeding mothers the information,
confidence, and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding
their babies.
There are more than 20,000 designated Baby-Friendly hospitals and birth
centers worldwide and Good Samaritan Hospital is one of only 355 active
Baby-Friendly hospitals and birth centers in the United States. The “Baby-Friendly”
designation is given after a rigorous on-site survey is completed.
About Good Samaritan Hospital
First opened in 1885, Good Samaritan Hospital is a 408-bed tertiary care
facility offering some of the most comprehensive care in Los Angeles.
Specializing in cardiac, orthopaedic, oncologic, ophthalmologic, and women’s
services, Good Samaritan Hospital offers various medical and surgical
programs in its six centers of excellence: Heart & Vascular Center,
Comprehensive Orthopaedic Center, Davajan-Cabal Center for Perinatal Medicine,
Pancreatico-Biliary, Tertiary Retinal Surgery, and Transfusion-Free Medicine
& Surgery Center. For more information visit
www.goodsam.org.