Kathy Birt wrote asking about what the costs of formula would be in a Baby
Friendly hospital, and who would pay.  Good question.  One of the
baby-friendly requirements is that mothers are not to be provided with free
formula.  Thus, if mothers choose to bottle-feed, then they themselves pay
for that choice.  This insures that they are not co-erced into
bottle-feeding.  Secondly, the hospital administrators do not need to
concern themselves about needing vast quantities of formula.  If at least
80% of the mothers are not assisted to *breastfeed* (and are not exclusively
breastfeeding on hospital discharge) the the hospital will not be entitled
to "Baby-Friendly" designation.   The BFHI is not about formula-feeding,
it's about breastfeeding.  Beautiful in its simplicity, isn't it?

Best wishes to your hospital Kathy.

Pamela (who hopes these stats apply to US BFHI hospitals, as they do in
Zimbabwe).