The Virginia Maternity Center Breastfeeding Friendly Designation (VA MCBFD) Program is a program coordinated by Virginia Department of Health. The term “breastfeeding friendly” comes from Baby-Friendly USA’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. These steps are a framework specifically for hospitals to analyze how their policies and practices promote breastfeeding. VDH encourages birthing facilities across the Commonwealth to participate in the hospital breastfeeding-friendly designation program.The program has officially relaunched as of October 2024.
A webinar was held on Thursday, October 3rd, 2024, to address program updates and provide a brief overview of current breastfeeding data for Virginia. This webinar marked the relaunch of the program and the opening of the application for facilities to apply for breastfeeding-friendly designation. You may view a recording of the webinar, below which is approximately 25 minutes.
VA MCBFD Kickoff Webinar
VA MCBFD Program is Unique
- Recognition is awarded incrementally (for every 2 steps attained) to help support a continuum of improvement
- It is local to Virginia
- No fees associated with the designation
- No site visits required
Benefits of Participating
- Improving the health of the mother-baby and dad
- Increasing satisfaction with maternity care services in your facility
- Building momentum in your facility to move across the continuum towards being breastfeeding-friendly
- Public recognition of your efforts towards becoming breastfeeding-friendly
- Free marketing to the public about your efforts
- Contributing to the improvement of breastfeeding initiation, duration and exclusivity in Virginia
Last Updated: October 30, 2024