Health professional

Breastfeeding provides both short- and long-term benefits to the child and the mother.

For the child, breastfeeding provides optimal nutrition and reduces incidence of disease and death. Breastfeeding, particularly exclusive breastfeeding, protects children from diarrhea and pneumonia, the two leading causes of death among children under age five. Other infections, including otitis media, Haemophilus influenzae meningitis, and urinary tract infections, are less common and less severe in infants who are breastfed.

The Ten Steps involve changes in maternity services. Every facility providing maternity services
should have a breastfeeding policy and carry out structural changes and train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy. They are aimed to protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding in facilities that provide maternity services.

The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) was launched in 1991 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with the goal of protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding in facilities that provide maternity services, ensuring that the facilities follow the WHO/UNICEF “Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding” (the Ten Steps) and adhere to the 1981 International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

Nurturing Care refers to a stable environment created by parents and other caregivers that ensures, with policy, service and community support children's good health and nutrition, protects them from threats, and gives young children opportunities for early learning, through interactions that are emotionally supportive and responsive.
At birth, the nervous system of newborns, even after a full-term gestation, is not fully developed. The human brain continues to grow and develop postnatally at a rapid rate and becomes increasingly complex as growth progresses.

All infants should receive their first dose of hepatitis B vaccine as soon as possible after birth, preferably within 24 hours.
When not feasible, the birth dose can still be effective in preventing perinatal transmission if given within 7 days, particularly within 3 days, although somewhat less than if given within 24 hours, but with declining effectiveness with each passing day. Even after 7 days, a late birth dose can be effective in preventing horizontal transmission and therefore remains beneficial.

Pre-term infants should be vaccinated at birth and subsequently follow the national hepatitis B vaccination schedule.
For preterm infants weighing under 2,000 g, the initial vaccine dose (birth dose) should not be counted as part of the vaccine series because of the potentially reduced immunogenicity of the hepatitis B vaccine in these infants; three additional doses of vaccine (for a total of four doses) should be administered beginning when the infant reaches one month of age.

The best way to prevent mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B is through the hepatitis B vaccination of their infants, with the first dose administered during the first 24 hours of life.

The best way to prevent mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B is through the hepatitis B vaccination of their infants, with the first dose administered during the first 24 hours of life.

In all socio-economic settings, breastfeeding improves survival and provides lifelong health and development advantages to newborns and infants. Breastfeeding also improves the health of mothers. Transmission of active COVID-19 (virus that can cause infection) through breast milk and breastfeeding has not been detected to date. Therefore, there is no reason to avoid or discontinue breastfeeding.

Delayed rather than immediate umbilical cord clamping is beneficial for all newborn, both term and preterm.