6 DEC 2018 · Professor Renée Flacking from Dalarna University, Sweden, shares fascinating insight into transforming neonatal care - focusing not only on survival but also on protecting parents' and infants' physical and mental health, and supporting the development of close and loving parent-infant relationships. Renée spoke at the Baby Friendly 2018 Annual Conference, Europe's largest conference on infant feeding and relationship building.

9 JUN 2017 · Royal Devon and Exeter's Karen Read and Louise Rattenbury share insight from their journey to become the first neonatal unit in the UK to receive full Baby Friendly accreditation.

18 MAY 2017 · In her 2017 Baby Friendly Neonatal Conference talk, Inga Warren explores the importance of sensitive, baby-centred care on neonatal units.

18 MAY 2017 · In this talk at the Baby Friendly Neonatal Conference 2017, Annie Aloysius discusses the importance of valuing parents as true partners in care, empowering them to look after their baby and feel confident upon discharge.

7 DEC 2016 · “It is not understanding that destroys wonder, it is familiarity.” (John Stuart Mill, 1865) Breastfeeding is the single-most effective intervention to prevent infant and child mortality. It also profoundly influences early health and child development and improves school attainment. The relevance of breastfeeding to all populations is further highlighted by the growing number of premature adult deaths due to noncommunicable diseases and the potential for breastfeeding to mitigate these risks. Additionally, analyses demonstrate the value of breastfeeding for the health of women through reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. New research is also helping to explain and provide a biological plausibility for these outcomes and to estimate the economic gains associated with breastfeeding. Yet, despite these benefits, rates of exclusive and continued breastfeeding have not changed substantially over the past 20 years. Systematic reviews demonstrate that breastfeeding practices are highly responsive to interventions. When health systems and communities coordinate efforts, rates of exclusive and continued breastfeeding increase more than when interventions are delivered through one approach only; country examples also show that these improvements can occur at scale. However, the financial interests and influence of the breastmilk substitute industry undermine normative values towards breastfeeding and the infant feeding practices of individual mothers, and interventions to redress these influences are extremely challenging. Improving breastfeeding practices at population-level requires governments, health professionals, employers, communities and families to accept a shared responsibility for protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding and enabling mothers to feed their infants and young children as they would choose.