13 Jan 2012
By: RACHEL CHAN
EXPECTING a baby and not sure which hospital to deliver at? Soon, a certificate from the World Health Organization (WHO) may help you choose a “baby-friendly” hospital.
Starting this month, five maternity hospitals here have implemented WHO’s Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) guidelines, in a bid to be certified by the international authority by 2014.
The hospitals – National University Hospital (NUH), KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore General Hospital, Mount Alvernia Hospital and Thomson Medical Centre – handle 80 per cent of births here.
BFHI was launched by WHO and Unicef in 1991 to promote and support breastfeeding. Hospitals that follow the guidelines will promote exclusive breastfeeding, and will no longer accept sponsored formula from milk companies.
As standard operating procedure, maternity-ward staff at such hospitals will encourage breastfeeding and refrain from giving newborn infants formula, unless otherwise indicated, due to medical conditions.
The staff will facilitate skin- to-skin contact between mother and baby in the first hour after delivery. In addition, babies will stay in their mothers’ rooms.
In the past, mothers had to specify that they wanted to breastfeed exclusively or room-in with their infants.
WHO recommends that babies be breastfed exclusively for six months, so that mother and child can reap the maximum benefits of breastfeeding.
The Health Promotion Board (HPB), which is spearheading these efforts, aims to have NUH and one other maternity hospital achieve BFHI certification by the end of the year.
Singapore’s rates for exclusive breastfeeding are low, said HPB chief executive Ang Hak Seng.
HPB’s National Breastfeeding Survey last year revealed that nine out of 10 mothers attempted to breastfeed, but only 30 per cent did so exclusively for at least two months.
“The next challenge is in ensuring that working mothers continue to breastfeed after their 16-week maternity leave,” Mr Ang said.
More than 19,000 hospitals across 148 countries and regions, including China and Thailand, are BFHI-certified.
Email: rachchan@sph.com.sg
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