Baby-friendly and proud of it

Photo by Guy Williams.
Photo by Guy Williams.
Liz (right) and Daniel Santos, who welcomed their twins Isabella (left) and Rohan into the world five days ago at Lakes District Hospital, helped celebrate the hospital's maternity unit's successful renewal of its accreditation as a ''Baby Friendly Hospital'' yesterday.

With them are midwives Jayne Cadby (left) and Bea Collins.

The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative is a worldwide programme led by the World Health Organisation and Unicef to strengthen the capacity of national health systems to support breastfeeding.

Southern District Health Board director of midwifery Jenny Humphries said the hospital's midwife team had received a ''glowing'' report about the service they delivered.

The New Zealand Breastfeeding Authority had renewed the Frankton hospital's baby-friendly credentials for another three years.

The hospital first gained the accreditation in 2009, and was audited every three years.

The unit was required to meet an exclusively breastfeeding rate of at least 75% when mothers were discharged, and it achieved 92% last year.

The unit's staff will be part of another gathering of midwives in Wanaka today to mark International Midwives Day.

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