Becoming Baby-Friendly and Transforming Maternity Care in a Safety-Net Hospital on the Texas–Mexico Border

Nurse leaders used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s survey on Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care, as well as Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative guidelines, to transform maternity care in a safety-net hospital with more than 3,500 births annually. Implementing evidence-based guidelines to support breastfeeding was essential for a vulnerable population characterized by minimal prenatal care and high rates of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and poverty. Research showing the importance of breastfeeding in protecting against these factors guided extensive changes in our maternity care model. The nursing and medical teams changed long-held practices that separated women from their newborns and observed substantial improvements in breastfeeding initiation and exclusive breastfeeding rates at discharge.