Holly

Congratulations to your hospital on embarking on Baby Friendly 
accreditation.  I can't speak for what's done in the US, but the 
original Baby-Fiendly criteria required that a hospital pay 80% of 
the retail market value for any formula purchased and used.  The 
rationale is that breastfeeding is to be promoted, and that the only 
babies who would require formula would be those for whom it is 
medically indicated - there is a list of those indications in the 
Baby Friendly training materials.   The theory is that formula would 
only be required in extremely small quantities, perhaps for the first 
1-2-3 days of life when the pre-term babies are receiving 
60-90-120ml/kg/day..... Full-term healthy babies should in theory not 
require any at all. I've done Code monitoring at a large teaching 
hospital where the accounts and invoices were required to "prove" 
what price was paid, and during BFHI assessments I know that 
assessors would go through the prem nursery records to establish that 
the only formula used was in fact "medically indicated".

It's hard to see - if the political will is there - that a hospital's 
formula bill wuold reach a whopping $85 000 per annum if 
breastfeeding is being adequately promoted and supported.....

But of course that's looking at Baby-Friendly from a developing 
country perspective and with the original intention of the 
Nineties.  I think that in UK, the mothers who apparently "choose" to 
formula-feed are excluded from BFI assessments, which is a great shame :-(

Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Rustington, England
-----------------------------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 16 Dec 2014 16:30:03 -0500
From:    Holly McSpadden <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Baby Friendly and Purchase of Formula

Hello Wise Ones...

Our hospital has begun the Baby Friendly Designation process. (so far 
we have registered!). Our Director of Women's Services was asked by 
administration to meet with our purchasing department to discuss the 
impact of purchasing formula etc. at fair market value.  The 
department quoted her an estimate of an $85,000 impact annually. We 
deliver about 2500 babies yearly, have a Pediatric Children's 
Hospital and a level III NICU. Would anyone who has initiated (or 
completed) the Baby Friendly process in the United States like to 
share whether or not this is a realistic quote?

Thank You,

Holly McSpadden, IBCLC



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