Baby-Friendly USA

21/11/2025

Please join us in welcoming Melissa Cho, BSN, RN, IBCLC, to her new role as Baby-Friendly USA’s Chief Operating Officer! 🎉

Melissa joined BFUSA in 2022 as an Assessor and now steps into a leadership role where she will collaborate with CEO Eileen FitzPatrick, DrPH, MPH, RD, CLC to advance organizational strategy and oversee the Accreditation Department.

A lifelong advocate for families, she brings a nurse’s heart, a lactation specialist’s expertise, and an unwavering belief that Baby-Friendly care helps parents reach the goals that matter most to them.

We’re so grateful to have her leadership as we continue strengthening safe, evidence-based infant feeding care across the country. 💛

🔗 Learn more about Melissa and the entire BFUSA leadership team: https://www.babyfriendlyusa.org/about/departments-and-key-staff/

19/11/2025

Thinking about Baby-Friendly designation?

There’s good news: It’s both affordable AND high-impact.

A manageable investment:
📅 Annual designation fees average just $3,300
👩🏽‍⚕️ Flexible, budget-friendly staff training through competency-based assessment
🤱🏽 Demonstrated improvements in maternal and infant health outcomes

For hospital leaders and maternal child health champions, the path to Baby-Friendly is clearer, more flexible, and more budget-friendly than ever.

🔗 Find out how BFUSA supports your journey: https://www.babyfriendlyusa.org/

18/11/2025

Join us in celebrating Carol MacGowan, MPH, RDN, recipient of CHEER's 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award! 🎉

For decades, Carol has dedicated her career to advancing maternal and child health through leadership, collaboration, and compassion — building systems that support families and strengthen communities nationwide.

Read more about her inspiring journey ➡️ cheerequity.org/awards/carol-macgowan

17/11/2025

On World Prematurity Day, we honor the strength of preterm infants, the resilience of their families, and the dedication of NICU professionals. 💜

Every day, NICU teams combine compassion and evidence to give the smallest babies the best possible start—supporting parents through moments of fear, hope, and profound love.

From stabilizing fragile newborns to helping families hold their babies skin-to-skin and nurture them with human milk, their work embodies the heart of family-centered, evidence-based care.

Today, we celebrate all who make that care possible—and every preterm baby who shows us what true strength looks like. 💜

🔗 Visit BFUSA online: https://www.babyfriendlyusa.org/

14/11/2025

The upheaval from COVID brought the Maternity Services staff at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in McComb, Mississippi, to a point where there were fleeting moments when they were unsure if they would move forward with re-designation. But the practices were fully rooted by this point, and they didn’t want to lose them.

“Our new norms were in place by this point,” says Angela Parker, Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) and the driving force behind the facility’s pursuit of Baby-Friendly designation. “Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center is a Baby-Friendly facility.”

Read more:
https://www.babyfriendlyusa.org/news/southwest-mississippi-perseveres-to-be-re-designated-baby-friendly/

Angela Parker and Kim Pace have worked together in Maternity Services at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in McComb, Mississippi, for almost as long as either can remember. Kim has been there the longest. She joined as a staff nurse in 1993 and is now the Nurse Manager of

13/11/2025

🎉This fall, BFUSA is honored to join Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (NVRH) in celebrating an extraordinary milestone: 25 years of continuous Baby-Friendly designation.

The only currently designated hospital in Vermont, NVRH stands among just eight hospitals nationwide to sustain this achievement for 25 years or more.

This milestone reflects a legacy of heart, dedication, and shared purpose—upheld by the nurses, physicians, leaders, and community members who have supported families with compassionate, evidence-based care year after year.

To everyone at NVRH: Congratulations on this extraordinary achievement, and thank you for your steadfast commitment to the families in your care. 💙

Pictured: Laura Emery, RNC-OB, NVRH's Director of Birth Center Services; Carol Moore-Whitney, RN, IBCLC, NVRH's Baby-Friendly Lead; and Eileen FitzPatrick, DrPH, MPH, RDN, CLC, BFUSA's Chief Executive Officer

🔗Visit BFUSA online: babyfriendlyusa.org/

12/11/2025

A lower risk of breast cancer has long been recognized among the benefits of breastfeeding for mothers. Now, researchers are closer to understanding why.

A new study found that:
✅ Having babies and breastfeeding causes CD8+ T cells—a special type of immune cell—to accumulate in normal breast tissue.
✅ These protective cells remain in the tissue for decades after childbirth.
✅ They act as long-term guards, helping prevent breast cancer—especially the aggressive triple-negative type.
✅ However, this protective T-cell response was observed ONLY after a full cycle of lactation and breast recovery.

Lifelong health benefits for babies AND mothers—that’s why BFUSA partners with facilities to support every family in meeting their breastfeeding goals.🤱🏽

11/11/2025

“I’ve just always loved babies.”

That’s how Dr. Lisa Eiland, Division Lead for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center, in Hackensack, New Jersey, describes what drew her to the field of Neonatology.

Read about the newest member of BFUSA's Board of Directors:

“I've just always loved babies.” That’s how Dr. Lisa Eiland, Division Lead for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center, in Hackensack, New Jersey, describes what drew her to the field of Neonatology. “As the...

10/11/2025

When breastfeeding support is part of a hospital’s culture, everybody benefits—families get the infant feeding support they need, and staff are proud of the care they provide. 💗

That’s what Baby-Friendly care is all about.

🔗Learn more about Baby-Friendly designation: babyfriendlyusa.org/

10/11/2025

We're excited to be at the 2025 Perinatal Leadership Forum in Tucson, Arizona!

L to R: Shakira Henderson, Dean of UF College of Nursing and Chief Nurse Executive and UF Health; Melissa Cho, COO and Accreditation Director; and Eileen FitzPatrick, CEO

08/11/2025

BFUSA is excited to be at ILCA 2025 in Tampa, Florida.

L to R: Jennifer Foster, Clinical Director; Melissa Cho, COO and Accreditation Director; and Eileen FitzPatrick, CEO

06/11/2025

Please join us in congratulating Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez, CA, for being re-designated as Baby-Friendly!! 🎉 This achievement reflects your unwavering dedication to teamwork and excellence in infant feeding care. Kudos to all! 🌟

Contra Costa Health