...for two staff members to go to the UNICEF UK baby Friendly Initiative Conference
Helen Gray (Post Natal Liaison Sister) and Helen Smith (Sister ward 35) attended the UNICEF UK baby Friendly Initiative Conference in November 2009.
The conference was held over 2 days at the Bournemouth International Centre.
Both Helens have a particular interest in breast feeding the preterm/ small babies on ward 35 and post natal and the conference proved to be a very worthwhile overview on current practice.
Strategies for fighting obesity are currently high on the government agenda and the conference was opened by Dr. Peter Bundred who gave a review of current literature on the relationship between breast feeding and the prevention of early life obesity.
Other speakers focused on the health professional’s role in supporting breast feeding and decision making.
A particularly interesting presentation was given by a Social Marketing Agency which implemented programs designed to bring about social change using concepts from commercial marketing. Such projects have been successful in increasing breast feeding rates of targeted populations and this heightened our awareness its power in changing behavior in a health context.
On the second day, we were particularly interested in the presentation by Professor Kerstin Hedberg who works within a neonatal intensive care unit in Uppsala, Sweden. The unit employs a model of care whereby parents are encouraged to stay for 24 hours per day to care for their baby by offering continuous skin-to-skin contact (including those babies who are ventilated). This model proves a stark contrast to those used in UK neonatal units where kangaroo mother care is generally limited to 1-2 hours or less.
The conference was supported by exhibitors such as breast feeding networks and educational (book) suppliers and we were able to meet and talk to other professionals to compare practice.
We were grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend.
Helen Smith
