UHCW celebrates Baby Friendly accreditation

The neonatal unit (NNU) at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW) is the first in the Midlands and only the fourth NNU in England to achieve full Baby Friendly status.

Richard de Boer, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Neonatal Consultant at UHCW, proudly awarded an impressive plaque to Colette Fox, Neonatal Infant Feeding Lead, and Joanna Bradshaw, Neonatal Clinical Nurse Practitioner, as international recognition of the NNU’s inspirational work to support infant feeding.

Colette said: “Breast milk is especially important for sick and preterm babies, and separation of mothers and babies can give rise to all sorts of problems. Being in a neonatal unit creates physical barriers to touch, smell and breastfeeding, and creates difficulties in establishing and fostering a loving and responsive mother-child relationship.

“We decided to work towards Unicef’s internationally recognised award to protect, promote and support breastfeeding and to strengthen these relationships, which is important for all babies, not only those who are breastfed.

“It has taken five years of hard work and dedication from the neonatal nursing and medical team to achieve the award and we are looking forward to maintaining and improving the high standards of care that we provide for many years to come.”

The Baby Friendly Initiative, set up by Unicef and the World Health Organization, is a global programme that provides a practical and effective way for health services to improve the care provided for all mothers and babies.

FIGURE 1 Richard de Boer presenting the award to Colette Fox and Joanna Bradshaw.

FIGURE 2 Staff and friends at UHCW neonatal department celebrating Baby Friendly status.