The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) supports, promotes, and protects breastfeeding by implementing the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada’s Baby-Friendly Initiative.
The Baby-Friendly Initiative (BFI) is a global program established by the World Health Organization [1] (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in 1991. The goal of BFI is to ensure families are able to make an informed decision about how to feed their baby.
A Baby-Friendly facility provides health teaching about infant feeding and helps to support women to begin and continue breastfeeding. While breastfeeding is encouraged, a BFI facility supports all babies and families, no matter how they feed or plan to feed their baby. Mothers who decide not to breastfeed are supported and provided with education to help them feed their baby in another safe and nurturing way.
In Canada, the Baby-Friendly designation is awarded by the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada [2] (BCC) to a facility or organization that meets the following 10 requirements:
In addition to these 10 steps, WECHU must also follow the WHO International Code of the Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes [4] (the Code). The Code protects all infants and young children by ensuring the information families receive is accurate, fact-based, and free from commercial interest. It ensures all babies have access to safe nutrition of the highest quality and standard.
WECHU earned our Baby-Friendly designation April 2018. We are committed to:
The Windsor-Essex Family and Baby Friendly (WEF&BF) Committee is made up of professionals and community members that are interested in supporting the health and well-being of pregnant women and their young children.
One of the key roles of this committee is to support WECHU in achieving BFI designation, and to support other community agencies to adopt BFI practices and move toward BFI designation.
The WEF&BF Committee has members from a variety of community partners including Windsor Regional Hospital, La Leche League, Ontario Early Years Centres, parenting support groups, midwives, doulas, and breastfeeding educators.
If you are interested in promoting and supporting breastfeeding in our community, WECHU is excited to hear from you. Please contact us at: intake@wechu.org [5] or call the Healthy Families Hotline at 519-258-2146 ext. 1350.
Links
[1] http://www.who.int/topics/breastfeeding/en/
[2] http://breastfeedingcanada.ca/BFI.aspx
[3] https://www.wechu.org/baby-friendly-initiative/baby-friendly-policy
[4] http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/infantfeeding/9241541601/en/
[5] mailto:intake@wechu.org
[6] https://www.wechu.org/tags/breastfeeding
© Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, 2022. All Rights Reserved.
1005 Ouellette Avenue, Windsor, Ontario N9A 4J8 - 519-258-2146