Baby-Friendly USA, a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, has announced that Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center has been designated a Baby-Friendly Hospital, the first hospital to achieve such distinction in Athens-Clarke County.
 
Baby-Friendly USA is the accrediting body and United States’ authority for the implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, which encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for breastfeeding mothers and their babies, offering the information, confidence and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies.
 
“Piedmont Athens Regional is proud to receive this Baby-Friendly designation,” said Dena Ollis, RN, director of women and children’s services at Piedmont Athens Regional. “This amazing milestone for our hospital is the result of years of hard work to ensure the many mothers and their babies in our care receive the highest-quality healthcare with the best services available to them.”
 
Baby-Friendly USA uses standards to determine whether a hospital or birthing center meets Baby-Friendly designation, ensuring they have implemented the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding criteria, a framework developed by experts that have shown to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration, and that the required breast milk substitutions are available to patients.
 
WHO and UNICEF’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative sets the criteria for Baby-Friendly designation and completes a final review to determine whether a hospital has met the standards.
 
“There’s no question that breastfeeding is the best feeding and caring method for the health of both mother and baby, and Baby-Friendly sets the standard for the best possible breast feeding support in the hospital setting,” Ollis said. “This is great news for our patients, and we’re honored to be designated as Baby-Friendly.”
 
There are currently more than 20,000 designated Baby-Friendly hospitals and birth centers worldwide, with 540 located in the United States.
 
Piedmont Athens Regional’s Baby-Friendly designation is set for five years, after which it is maintained by continuing to practice the Ten Steps as demonstrated by quality processes.