Maternity services that adopt the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding can apply to be assessed and accredited as Baby Friendly. The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are evidence-based best practice standards developed by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. They are designed to enable improved practice in maternity units in order to promote, protect and support breastfeeding.

Baby Friendly accreditation requires that maternity units implement all Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and practise in line with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.

The Baby Friendly Initiative for maternity covers the whole maternity service, including community midwives and the neonatal unit. Maternity services in NHS trusts that have more than one maternity unit may choose to be assessed separately or simultaneously.

Standards
To find out about the criteria for each of the ten steps, select from the list in the orange box on the right of the screen. For guidance on implementing any or all of the steps, choose Implementation guidance.

Assessment and accreditation
To find out about the staged approach to assessment and accreditation, click on Maternity assessment stages in the blue menu on the right.

Support materials
Each page of this section has an orange box on the right of the screen that lists important documents that will help you with your progress towards accreditation. To download a document, just click on it.