UNICEF Gold Accreditation
The Unicef Baby Friendly Gold award is the highest level of accreditation and celebrates excellent and sustained practice in the support of infant feeding and parent-infant relationships.
The Royal Surrey Maternity service is one of only eight maternity services in England to achieve a Gold accreditation.
The Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative is transforming healthcare for babies, their mothers and families in the UK as part global partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef.
The accreditation programme offers an evidence-based approach to support breastfeeding and good infant nutrition, helping parents to develop close and loving relationships with their babies. Unicef provide support to maternity services by setting standards, providing training and assess progress by measuring skills and knowledge of health professionals.
“Feeding is so much more than providing food. It is about bonding, nurturing and your baby’s brain development. It is so nice to see women becoming a mother, trusting their instincts and watching their baby.” Emily, (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, IBCLC) Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife.
"Our aim is for mothers to be empowered, to trust their instincts and enjoy feeding their baby. We provide evidence based information to enable a family to make the right choice for them. With the tranquillity of a dedicated feeding room and trained postnatal support workers and midwives, we provide feeding support every 2 to 3 hours on the postnatal ward. Once you get home we also have a number of ways for you to access our dedicated feeding support." Kate, IBCLC Infant Feeding Lead Specialist Midwife.