Table 1 Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding [5]

Critical management procedures:

 1a

Comply fully with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and relevant World Health Assembly resolutions

 1b

Have a written infant feeding policy that is routinely communicated to staff and parents

 1c

Establish ongoing monitoring and data-management systems

 2

Ensure that staff have sufficient knowledge, competence and skills to support breastfeeding

Key clinical practices

 3

Discuss the importance and management of breastfeeding with pregnant women and their families

 4

Facilitate immediate and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact and support mothers to initiate breastfeeding as soon as possible

after birth

 5

Support mothers to initiate and maintain breastfeeding and manage common difficulties

 6

Do not provide breastfed newborns any food or fluids other than breast milk, unless medically indicated

 7

Enable mothers and their infants to remain together and to practice rooming-in 24 h a day

 8

Support mothers to recognise and respond to their infants’ cues for feeding

 9

Counsel mothers on the use and risks of feeding bottles, teats and pacifiers

 10

Coordinate discharge so that parents and their infants have timely access to ongoing support and care