UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Breastfeeding Management Courses

The Baby Friendly Initiative's weekend course in breastfeeding management is designed to provide health professionals with the background knowledge and practical skills they need in order to implement best practice standards successfully. This exclusive breastfeeding training course is ideal for maternity and community services working towards Baby Friendly accreditation.

The course is for midwives, health visitors, and other health-care staff, paediatric nurses, doulas, nannies, maternity nurses, child-minders, and other professionals interested in working with breastfeeding mothers and their babies.

The course begins with the participant carrying out an observation of a Breastfeed. This is Practical Skills Review 1 should be completed before Day 1 of the course.

An observation form is provided for recording what is observed and the experience is used for reflection during the course.

The Breastfeeding Management Course covers

• Introduction to the Baby Friendly Initiative
• Why breastfeeding is important
• The differences between breast milk and artificial milk
• What people ‘know’ about breastfeeding
• How breastfeeding works (anatomy and physiology)
• Keeping mother and babies together (including skin-to-skin
• contact, rooming-in and bed-sharing)
• Attachment to the breast
• Positioning for breastfeeding
• Hand expression of breast milk
• Teaching practical skills
• Giving mothers the information they need
• When babies come early (initiating and maintaining lactation
• and supporting mothers when breastfeeding isn’t possible)
• Insufficient milk
• Assessing breasts and breastfeeding – detecting problems
• Challenging situations – the early period (hypoglycaemia)
• Challenging situations – the later period (introduction of solids)
• Planning for the practical skills review, influencing colleagues
• and improving practice

Throughout the course the relevance of the International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes to the work of health care staff and parents is explored.

After the course, the student will be required to participate in the observation of a breastfeed. The UNICEF endorsed course will be delivered by an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. The teacher has completed the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative Breastfeeding Management Course and the Train the Trainer Course. Applicants may be interested to know that this course can be used as a pathway to accessing the UNICEF Train The Trainer Course.