We are delighted to announce that our Infant Feeding Team’s skin to skin initiative ‘Project Joey’ has been highly commended by the London Maternity and Midwifery Festival in the team award category, on Tuesday 13th February. ‘Project Joey’ set up by Jo Wilding-Hillcoat, Infant Feeding Team Leader Midwife, aims to provide the ‘birth centre experience’ of uninterrupted skin to skin time with their baby as soon after birth as possible for all mothers including those needing care in theatre.
Another success for our Infant Feeding Team is that we have achieved re-accredited as a Level 3 in Unicef’s Baby Friendly Initiative, a worldwide programme set up to promote breastfeeding and to give the best practical advice and support to mothers for feeding their babies. For more information about the Baby Friendly Initiative see www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly.
Anne Woods, Deputy Programme Director from Unicef commented: “It is very clear that maintaining the Baby Friendly standards and progressing these forward is a high priority within the Trust. There is an excellent working relationship with the neonatal unit, the infant feeding team is well supported and resourced and innovation is valued.”
Speaking of receiving the award Jo said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this award for ‘Project Joey’. We want to ensure babies have the best experience possible and the experience should be the same wherever they are born. We hope to promote the value and importance of skin to skin contact in the first few hours after birth and educate mothers about the concept and the many benefits both mother and baby derive from it including regulating baby’s temperature, providing early immunity against infection, supporting maternal and new born well-being and providing an environment that encourages baby to feed.”
Jane Urban, Divisional Chief Nurse / Midwife added: “It is a huge achievement for the Trust to be re-accredited as a Level 3 in the Unicef’s Baby Friendly Initiative and is recognition of all of the hard work the team have been doing – next year we will be going for the next level, Gold! I am also so proud of our ‘Project Joey’ and of Jo and her team for receiving this fabulous award.”
Pictured above from left to right: Infant Feeding Team Midwives, Kerry Stedman, Jo Wilding-Hillcoat and Fiona Lewis.
