Giving babies the best chance to thrive

The Baby Friendly Initiative’s (BFI) second neonatal conference was held on 9 May 2017 at Senate House in London. The meeting, hosted in partnership with Bliss, was an opportunity to hear the latest ideas and discussions around caring for sick and preterm babies and their families. More importantly, the event celebrated all the great work taking place across the UK to give vulnerable babies the best possible chance to thrive. The Baby Friendly neonatal standards encompass the holistic care of families relating to building close relationships, feeding and supporting parents to be partners in care. They are designed to help neonatal units to transform their care practices and greatly improve outcomes for vulnerable babies. The first part of this report discusses the highlights of the conference while in part two Annie Aloysius of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, looks at the family integrated care model.