
Initiatives
Best Fed Beginnings
A first-of-its-kind, nationwide quality improvement initiative to help hospitals improve maternity care and increase the number of “Baby-Friendly”-designated hospitals in the United States.

Status: Complete
October 2011 to March 2015
- Who: Participants included 89 hospital teams from around the U.S.
- Funder: The project was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and run in close partnership with Baby-Friendly USA and the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC).
- Our Role: Facilitated three concurrent learning collaboratives that provide coaching to 89 hospitals on how to apply the Model for Improvement to maternity care in pursuit of Baby-Friendly designation. We also built Baby-Friendly USA’s and the USBC’s internal quality improvement capacity, raised awareness of the World Health Organization’s Breastfeeding Hospital Initiative (BFHI) and supported teams in establishing improved connection with community based breastfeeding coalitions.