Health visitors, nutritionists, dietitians and members of the hospital’s maternal and child team took part in a breastfeeding counselling course this month.

The training, hosted by the health ministry, is a prerequisite for accreditation of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital as baby-friendly under the World Health Organisation and the Unicef Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.

“This BFHI is an initiative for the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding,” said Christine Bocage, senior technical officer of food security and nutrition at the Caribbean Public Health Agency, who facilitated the training along with Audrey Morris, a food and nutrition advisor at the Pan American Health Organisation.

“It is based on the ten steps to successful breastfeeding and we are very pleased to facilitate this important training for our healthcare professionals.”

The BFHI is guided by the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding and also assesses a hospital’s compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

According to the ministry, the indiscriminate marketing of breast-milk substitutes such as infant formula can severely undermine breastfeeding of infants in Bermuda.

The 13 new trainers, who took part in the course from April 11 to April 15, are expected to introduce training for other staff at KEMH and at health centres throughout the island.

Jeanne Atherden, the Minister of Health, Seniors and Environment, said: “This was a great opportunity for Bermuda.

“The main goal of these efforts is to support women in being able to breastfeed exclusively for six months as recommended by WHO.

“Increasing breastfeeding rates is also an activity under the Healthy Weights Initiative which is an objective in the Government’s Well Bermuda Strategy, and which is spearheaded by the Ministry of Health, Seniors and Environment.

The Healthy Weights Initiative aims to address the increasing problem of overweight and obesity in Bermuda.

“It has been scientifically proven that breastfeeding early in life can decrease the risk of becoming obese and of developing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and some forms of cancer,” Ms Atherden added.