TMH Re-Designated as Baby-Friendly Hospital by WHO and UNICEF

TMH Remains Only Accredited Baby-Friendly Hospital in Tallahassee 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Tuesday, March 19, 2024) – Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) has earned re-designation as a Baby-Friendly Hospital as part of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). TMH is one of only 25 hospitals in the state of Florida – and the only in Tallahassee – recognized for offering optimal care that prioritizes mother/baby bonding and infant feeding through the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.

“A mother’s journey starts here at the Women’s Pavilion, and we are her first line of support when it comes to bonding, feeding and recovery,” said Kim Outlaw, Administrator for Women’s and Children’s Services at TMH. “We help more than 3,000 babies enter the world every year, and our team is dedicated to giving each of them the best start possible. As a Baby-Friendly Hospital, we prioritize evidence-based care and education for our patients.”

As part of TMH’s commitment to Baby-Friendly practices, families at the Alexander D. Brickler, MD Women’s Pavilion can expect skin-to-skin contact immediately after welcoming their baby, delayed bathing, room sharing and one-on-one breastfeeding guidance from trained staff and lactation consultants. Each of these evidence-based maternity care practices share a goal to provide moms and babies the best start.

In addition to being a Baby-Friendly Hospital, TMH provides the region’s highest level of neonatal intensive care with both a Level II and Level III neonatal intensive care units (NICU).

“This effort is important to us because it can affect both the short- and long-term health of the child and mother,” said Logan Van Wagenen, Assistant Vice President for Women’s and Children’s Services at TMH. “As a community-based healthcare system, we prioritize the lifelong health of our residents, and our Family Care Unit is an excellent place to lay the groundwork for a healthy family.”

To meet the designation criteria, TMH adheres to the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding framework, an evidenced-based set of practices endorsed and promoted by leading maternal and child health authorities.

TMH first received the Baby-Friendly Hospital designation in 2018. The re-designation lasts for five years.

Since launching in 1991, the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative has grown to include over 600 designated facilities across the country and 20,000 worldwide. In 2022, about 27 percent of births in the US took place in Baby-Friendly designated facilities.