MOTHERS AND and babies will be given more time together immediately after the baby's birth in maternity units with the Baby Friendly Hospitals Status.
This is part of a global revision of the World Health Organisation's Baby Friendly Hospital Initiatives (BFHI).
"Currently, babies are given to the mothers within 30 minutes of birth for skin to skin contact. But, in future, they will be given to the mothers within minutes of birth and left together for up to one hour," said Genevieve Becker, the co-ordinator of the Baby Friendly Hospitals Initiative in Ireland.
In another major change to the BFHI, mothers who choose to bottle feed their babies will be informed about the best way to make up feeds, choose age-appropriate formula and sterilise bottles.
"The Food Safety Authority has recently raised concerns about the safety of baby formula when it is not made and stored correctly," said Becker. "So, hospital staff in Baby Friendly hospitals will in future give full information to mothers who want to bottle feed.
This will include talking about the importance of clean bottles and using age-appropriate formula.
"The risks of not breast feeding will also be explained and how bottle-feeding isn't as easy as people think, in terms of cost and time," she said.
Bottle feeding can cost €600-€800 for the first six months.
Currently, 38 per cent of maternity units in Ireland have the Baby Friendly Hospitals Status. These include Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, Co Galway, Waterford Regional Hospital, St Munchin's Regional Maternity Hospital, Limerick, the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin and the maternity unit at University College Hospital, Galway and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co Louth.
The new practices of the BFHI will be will be rolled out in these hospitals later this year and in 2009.
In her talk at the La Leche League national conference at the weekend, Becker also spoke about the Breastfeeding Supportive Workplace Initiative.
"Co-workers are one of the biggest barriers to women who want to continue breastfeeding when back at work," she said.
"This initiative aims to inform all staff of the benefits of breastfeeding in an effort to encourage a more supportive environment in the workplace," she said.
