Sherwood Forest Hospitals is the latest UK healthcare facility to win international recognition from the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) by being awarded the prestigious Baby Friendly Award.

The Baby Friendly Initiative, set up by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, is a global programme which provides a practical and effective way for health services to improve the care provided for all mothers and babies. In the UK, the initiative works with UK public services to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding and to strengthen all mother and baby and family relationships. The award is given to hospitals after an assessment by a UNICEF team has shown that recognised best practice standards are in place.

Jo Lincoln, Infant Feeding Co-ordinator at the Trust, said: “We are delighted to have achieved the UNICEF Baby Friendly Award. This is recognition of the hard work being undertaken by staff to encourage and support new mums with breast feeding their baby. This work helps to increase breast feeding rates and improve care for all new mothers and babies at the Trust.

“The health benefits of breast feeding for both mum and baby are widely known. For baby these include early protection against a wide range of serious illnesses including gastroenteritis and respiratory infections in infancy, as well as asthma, cardiovascular disease and diabetes in later life. For mums, it can also reduce their risk of developing some cancers.

“But however a new mum chooses to feed her baby, we encourage her to form a strong loving relationship with her new-born by supporting maximum skin to skin contact, helping her to understand how her baby communicates and how she can respond to that.”

Sue Ashmore, baby friendly initiative programme director, said: “We are delighted that Sherwood Forest Hospitals has achieved full baby friendly status. Surveys show us that most mothers want to breastfeed but don’t always get the support they need. New mothers can be confident that midwives at the Trust will provide full support and high standards of care.”