Have you been likely to breast feed your newborn infant? In that case, there's a designation given to hospitals that you may want to keep yourself informed of: Baby baby friendly detergent.

In 1991 The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) was launched. This initiative is an international program sponsored by UNICEF and the World Health Organization to encourage maternity care centers and hospitals to become fully supportive of breastfeeding. The BFHI gives special recognition i.e. a Baby Friendly Designation to facilities that provide a particular amount of breast feeding support and meet certain criterion. Baby-Friendly USA oversees the United State's BFHI.

The ten steps to receive the Baby Friendly Designation are:

1. Maintain a published breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to any or all medical care staff.
2. Train all medical care staff in skills required to implement this policy.
3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
5. Show mothers just how to breastfeed and how to keep lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
6. Give infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated.
7. Practice rooming in-- allow mothers and infants to stay together 24 hours a day.
8. Encourage unrestricted breastfeeding.
9. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers in their mind on discharge from the hospital or clinic

There are some facilities that will advertise a certificate of baby friendly detergent. It is important to distinguish between a facility that has received the entire Baby Friendly designation versus one that has simply received a Certificate of Intent. In accordance with BFHI: "Certificates of Intent are given out on an honor system... Receiving the Certificate of Intent isn't equal to receiving the Baby-Friendly designation, but alternatively recognizes those US hospitals and birthing centers which can be working toward applying the Ten Steps."