Leading the Baby Friendly Initiative in a NICU: One Hospital’s Journey to Ignite the Change

Although the 10 steps to achieving BFI status have historically targeted the healthy term population on maternity units, the successes seen have heightened the interest to improve breastfeeding practices in the neonatal intensive care units (NICU). This paper chronicles one hospitals journey as they begin the process to adapt the 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding in their NICU and change breastfeeding practices for their vulnerable population. Through the use of the 10 steps this paper outlines how an organization might begin to ignite the change in their NICU through sharing early lessons learned.