St. Charles Bend, Redmond receive ‘Baby-Friendly’ designation

St. Charles Bend and St. Charles Redmond hospitals have received the prestigious international recognition as Baby-Friendly designated birth facilities, officials said Thursday.

The designation is important because it means the two hospitals have made a commitment to promote and support breastfeeding — which has been shown to improve health outcomes for children over the long-term — in their policies and practices.

“We’re overjoyed and really proud that we did it,” said Nicolle Timm, a lactation nurse at St. Charles Redmond. “It’s a very difficult accreditation to achieve and it has been years in the making. It’s setting up younger generations for the healthiest start in life possible.”

St. Charles Bend and St. Charles Redmond began working toward obtaining their Baby-Friendly designation in 2012, which included complying with 10 steps outlined by the World Health Organization. They include:

Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
Train all health care staff in 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 newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk, unless medically indicated.
Practice “rooming in,” allowing 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 clinic.

Breastfeeding is important in the prevention of obesity, diabetes and chronic illness, and can significantly change life-long health outcomes and impact the cost of U.S. health care. Yet only a small percentage of hospitals in Oregon and nationwide are designated as Baby-Friendly.

“Our Baby-Friendly designation wouldn’t have been possible without the buy-in of St. Charles management, our community partners at WIC and the many providers with whom we work who are committed to infant health and nutrition,” said Becky McColl, a lactation nurse at St. Charles Bend.

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 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, the award recognizes birth facilities 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-Friendlyhospitals and birth centers worldwide. Currently there are 290active Baby-Friendly hospitals and birth centers in the United States, including 10 in Oregon. The Baby-Friendly designation is given after a rigorous on-site survey is completed. The award is maintained by continuing to practice the Ten Steps as demonstrated by quality processes.