Breastfeeding - Promoting and Supporting the Initiation, Exclusivity, and Continuation of Breastfeeding in Newborns, Infants and Young Children

Published: July 2018
Available in English, French, Spanish
Clinical,  Population health

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to enhance the capacity of nurses, the interprofessional team, peers, policy-makers, and employers to meet the needs of  breastfeeding persons  their healthy term newborns, infants, and young children  their…

The purpose of this best practice guideline (BPG) is to enhance the capacity of nurses, the interprofessional team, peers, policy-makers, and employers to meet the needs of 

  • breastfeeding persons 
  • their healthy term newborns, infants, and young children 
  • their partners, family, and support network

This BPG is meant to be used by 

  • nurses
  • the interprofessional team
  • peers

across the perinatal period to enhance the quality of their practices to support 

  • breastfeeding initiation
  • exclusivity for newborns and infants to six months of age
  • continuation for infants and young children to two years or longer, in addition to complementary feeding.

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Video label
Guideline overview
Reference

Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. Breastfeeding - Promoting and Supporting the Initiation, Exclusivity, and Continuation of Breastfeeding for Newborns, Infants, and Young Children. 3rd ed. Toronto (ON): Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario; 2018.

Recommendations

Do you want to learn about and implement the most- up-to-date evidence-based recommendations on this topic with your colleagues? Download and share the full best practice guideline (BPG), Breastfeeding - Promoting and Supporting the Initiation, Exclusivity, and Continuation of Breastfeeding in Newborns, Infants and Young Children.
See below for a snapshot of the recommendations from this BPG. We strongly suggest you review the full BPG before implementing the recommendations and good practice statements. The BPG also includes further resources to support implementation and evaluation.  

Disclaimer: These guidelines are not binding for nurses, other health providers or the organizations that employ them. The use of these guidelines should be flexible and based on individual needs and local circumstances. They constitute neither a liability nor discharge from liability. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents at the time of publication, neither the authors nor the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) gives any guarantee as to the accuracy of the information contained in them or accepts any liability with respect to loss, damage, injury or expense arising from any such errors or omission in the contents of this work.

Revision status

Current edition published: July 2018

This BPG is intended to replace the RNAO BPG Breastfeeding Best Practice Guidelines for Nurses (2003) and its supplement (2007).

Contact

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