Prince of Wales Hospital
Policy on Infant Feeding (Summary)
The Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) supports expectant and new mothers to feed and care for their infants in ways which ensure optimum health and well-being. We provide care services and environments to facilitate mothers in giving exclusive breastfeeding to their infants.
- Communicate routinely this Policy to all healthcare staff and parents.
- Establish continuous monitoring and data management systems on implementation of this Policy.
- Through training and assessments according to role and responsibilities, ensure that the staff who provide infant feeding services have sufficient knowledge, competence and skills to support breastfeeding.
- Discuss with pregnant women and their families the value and management of breastfeeding and relationship building with their infants.
- Facilitate immediate and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact as soon as possible after birth and support mothers to initiate first infant feeding during the contact.
- Support mothers to initiate and maintain breastfeeding and manage common difficulties. Refer mothers who have complex breastfeeding challenges to lactation consultant services as appropriate.
- Do not provide breastfed newborns any food or fluids other than breastmilk unless medically indicated. Regularly review the need of supplementation if it is used.
- Enable mothers and their infants to remain together through rooming-in 24 hours a day. When the infants have to be admitted to the neonatal unit due to medical reasons, facilitate mothers to be with the infants and value the parents as partners of care.
- Support mothers to recognise infants¡¦ feeding cues and practice responsive feeding according to needs of the infants and mothers.
- Counsel mothers on the use and risks of feeding bottles, teats and pacifiers.
- Coordinate timely access of parents and their families to ongoing support and care after hospital discharge.
- Implement ¡¥Mother Friendly Childbirth¡¦ practices and procedures.
- Provide support to mothers who choose not to breastfeed as an informed choice.
- Support breastfeeding friendly workplace practices.
- Comply fully with the ¡¥International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes¡¦ and subsequent relevant World Health Assembly resolutions.