Top

Published in:

01-11-2013 | Notes from the Field

Engaging Chicago Hospitals in the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative

Authors: Samantha L. Schoenfelder, Sadie Wych, Catherine A. Willows, Joseph Harrington, Katherine Kaufer Christoffel, Adam B. Becker

Published in: Maternal and Child Health Journal | Issue 9/2013

Abstract

Breastfeeding is now widely recognized as a vital obesity prevention strategy and hospitals play a primary role in promoting, supporting and helping mothers to initiate and maintain breastfeeding. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) provides an evidence-based model that hospitals can use to plan and implement breastfeeding quality improvement (QI) projects. Funding under Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW), administered by the CDC, brought together key Chicago partners to provide individualized support and technical assistance with breastfeeding QI projects to the 19 maternity hospitals in Chicago. A community organizing approach was taken to mobilize hospital interest in breastfeeding QI projects, leading to successes, e.g. 12/19 (63 %) Chicago hospitals registered with Baby-Friendly USA, Inc. (BFUSA) to pursue official Baby-Friendly designation. Key factors that fostered this success included: involving all levels of hospital staff, financial incentives, and ongoing tailored technical assistance. To assist other communities in similar work, this article discusses the approach the project took to mobilize hospitals to improve breastfeeding support practices based on the BFHI, as well as successes and lessons learned.

American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Breastfeeding. (2012). Policy statement: Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Pediatrics, 129(3), e827–e841.CrossRef

American Academy of Family Physicians. (2008). Breastfeeding, family physicians supporting (Position paper). Available at: http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/policy/policies/b/breastfeedingpositionpaper.html. Accessed 1 Feb 2012.

Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses. (2007). Breastfeeding: Position statement. Available at: http://www.awhonn.org/awhonn/content.do?name=05_HealthPolicyLegislation/5H_PositionStatements.htm. Accessed 1 Feb 2012.

Ip, S., Chung, M., Raman, G., Chew, P., Magula, N., DeVine, D., Trikalinos, T., Lau, J. (2007). Breastfeeding and maternal and infant health outcomes in developed countries. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No. 153 (Prepared by Tufts-New England Medical Center Evidence-based Practice Center, under Contract No. 290-02-0022). AHRQ Publication No. 07-E007. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Arenz, S., Rückerl, R., Koletzko, B., & von Kries, R. (2004). Breast-feeding and childhood obesity—a systematic review. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, 28(10), 1247–1256.PubMedCrossRef

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2012). Healthy People 2020. Washington, DC. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/objectiveslist.aspx?topicid=26. Accessed 6 June 2012.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). Centers for disease control and prevention breastfeeding report card—United States, 2011. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/2011BreastfeedingReportCard.pdf. Accessed 23 Feb 2012.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Breastfeeding among U.S. children born 2000–2008, CDC National Immunization Survey. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/NIS_data/index.htm. Accessed 6 June 2012.

Baby-Friendly USA, Inc. (2012). BFHI USA. US baby-friendly birth facilities. Available at: http://babyfriendlyusa.org/eng/03.html. Accessed 7 June 2012.

10.

Kramer, M. S., Chalmers, B., Hodnett, E. D., Sevkovskaya, Z., Dzikovich, I., Shapiro, S., et al. (2001). Promotion of breastfeeding intervention trial (PROBIT): A randomized trial in the Republic of Belarus. JAMA, 285(4), 413–420.PubMedCrossRef

11.

Merewood, A., Mehta, S. D., Chamberlain, L. B., Philipp, B., & Bauchner, H. (2005). Breastfeeding rates in US baby-friendly hospitals: Results of a national survey. Pediatrics, 116(3), 628–634.PubMedCrossRef

12.

Baby-Friendly USA, Inc. (2010). BFHI USA. The ten steps to successful breastfeeding. Available at http://babyfriendlyusa.org/eng/10steps.html. Accessed 9 June 2011.

13.

Phillip, B. L., Merewood, A., Miller, L. W., Chawla, N., Murphy-Smith, M. M., Gomes, J. S., et al. (2001). Baby-friendly hospital initiative improves breastfeeding initiation rates in a US hospital setting. Pediatrics, 108(3), 677–681.CrossRef

14.

Baby-Friendly USA, Inc. (2012). BFHI USA. Info for hospitals and birth centers. Available at: http://babyfriendlyusa.org/eng/04.html. Accessed 5 June 2012.

15.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Communities putting prevention to work. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/communitiesputtingpreventiontowork/. Accessed 4 May 2012.

16.

Longjohn, M.M. (2004). Chicago project uses ecological approach to obesity prevention. Pediatric Annals, 33(1), 55–57, 62–63.

17.

Becker, A. B., Longjohn, M. M., & Christoffel, K. K. (2008). Taking on obesity in a big city: Consortium to lower obesity in Chicago children (CLOCC). Progress in Pediatric Cardiology, 25, 199–206.CrossRef

18.

Becker, A.B., Christoffel, K.K., Morales, M.A., Rodriguez J.L., Lopez, J., Longjohn, M. (2011). Combatting childhood obesity through a neighborhood coalition. In Whitman, S., Shah, A.M., Benjamins, M.R., (Eds.), Urban Health, Oxford; 171–196.

19.

Becker, A.B., Christoffel, K.K., Lopez, J.E., Rodriguez, J.L. (2012). Community Organizing for Obesity Prevention in Humboldt Park, Chicago: The challenges and successes of coalition building across two organizing traditions. In Mikler, M., (Ed.), Community Organizing and Community Building for Health and Welfare. Rutgers University Press; (in press).

20.

Chicago Department of Public Health. (2012). Breastfeeding and the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. Available at: http://www.cityofchicago.org/dam/city/depts/cdph/CDPH/BabyFriendlyHospital32012.pdf. Accessed 5 June 2012.

21.

Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, and the Illinois Section of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2011). Available at: http://illinoisaap.org/wp-content/uploads/ILPhysiciansStatementOnBreastfeeding.pdf. Accessed 15 June 2012.

Title: Engaging Chicago Hospitals in the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative
Authors: Samantha L. Schoenfelder
Sadie Wych
Catherine A. Willows
Joseph Harrington
Katherine Kaufer Christoffel
Adam B. Becker
Publication date: 01-11-2013
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Maternal and Child Health Journal / Issue 9/2013
Print ISSN: 1092-7875
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6628
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-012-1144-2

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Engaging Chicago Hospitals in the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 9/2013

Suburban Migration and the Birth Outcome of Chicago-Born White and African–American Women: The Merit of the Healthy Migrant Theory?

Strategies to Reduce Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancies

Trends in Health Insurance Status of US Children and their Parents, 1998–2008

Nature or Nurture: A Systematic Review of the Effect of Socio-economic Status on the Developmental and Cognitive Outcomes of Children Born Preterm

Family Physicians in the Maternity Care Workforce: Factors Influencing Declining Trends

Unintentional Injury in Early Childhood: Its Relationship with Childcare Setting and Provider