STAFF at the John Radcliffe Hospital have officially been recognised as 'baby friendly' for their efforts in promoting and supporting breastfeeding.

This week the Maternity and Newborn Care Unit teams were awarded the Stage 2 Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) accreditation by Unicef.

The teams become the first to be awarded the accreditation across the Thames valley and Wessex area.

The Unicef scheme aims to 'revolutionise baby care' by training staff to help new mothers make an informed choice about feeding their baby.

Nearly 800 members of staff across both units, including midwives, nurses and nursery nurses, doctors and support workers, were trained to offer feeding support and advice to parents.

Interim maternity infant feeding lead at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Alex Mulford, said: “This award means a lot to us.

"It is recognition of the fact that our staff have the skills and knowledge to help families in those critical early days.

“Currently, 81 per cent of women having their babies in our trust start breastfeeding.

"However, we know that many mothers will not feed for as long as they had hoped.

"We anticipate that our skilled workforce will help mothers to overcome any initial difficulties enabling them to feed for as long as they would like.”

Neonatal feeding lead, Gillian Denton, added: “We can never stress enough the importance of breastfeeding to protect babies against a wide range of serious illnesses as well as reducing the mother's risk of postnatal depression, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and some cancers.

“Our goal as a Newborn Care Unit is to ensure that all mothers who wish to breastfeed receive consistent advice and practical support to enable them to do so and that all families, no matter their feeding choice are supported to develop a close and loving relationship with their baby.”

In the progression to Stage 3, which is the full Unicef BFI accreditation, there will also be a focus on antenatal education. The Trust is working on ensuring that all parents have access to antenatal sessions. Whilst some mothers access the sessions already provided others do not. Therefore, staff are considering innovative ways of reaching those mothers who currently do not attend.

Ms Mulford continued: “As well as informing future parents of why breastfeeding matters, we will cover what to expect in the early days. Breastfeeding is a learnt skill and some mothers and babies need more help than others to get feeding off to a good start.

"We believe that with more education we can help women to feel more confident which will enable them to overcome any initial problems they encounter.”

The Maternity and Newborn Care Unit teams are now working toward achieving their stage 3 Unicef accreditation by the end of 2019.