At 9:49 am -0500 7/2/01, Peg Merrill wrote:

<snip>

>  We are trying to
>revise our hospital polices to reduce the need for supplementation and would
>like to know what other hospitals are doing.  If you have any policies on
>this you could send it would be greatly appreciated.


Well, the 10 steps for Baby Friendly include no supplements unless
medically indicated - but that's hard if units expand the definition
of medical neccessity to reach the majority of babies : (

The hospitals in the UK that have been most successful at reducing
supplementation are the ones where each and every supplement is
documented, and the midwife and/or paed involved signs a note
'authorising' it on the feeding chart or notes,  stating the reason.

Then a senior person checks the notes as often as possible, and has
the authority to ask the staff member for an explanation. 'Mother's
choice' is a possible reason,  but it has to be documented that the
mother has had the chance to discuss this choice first.

While supplementing is a major problem in the UK, and the figures
show between 30 and 40 per cent of breastfed babies get formula in
hospital, the units with a good basic policy and continuous
monitoring have reduced it to single figures.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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