News article

AAP Endorses Ten Steps

September 30, 2009

Elk Grove Village, IL-The American Academy of Pediatrics has now officially endorsed the WHO/UNICEF Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. In a private letter to the heads of the World Health Organization and UNICEF dated August 25, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of AAP approved the endorsement. AAP have asked to be listed as an official signatory, with the “footnote” that that there are certain circumstances where newborns may benefit from the use of pacifiers, such as for “calming in a drug exposed infant” and “painful procedures.” Dr. David Tayloe, head of the AAP, made it clear in the letter that AAP is not asking for the WHO to revise the Ten Steps.

The Ten Steps are part of the WHO/UNICEF Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, which adds an additional requirement to Step 6, requiring that hospitals purchase their formula at fair-market value rather than receive it for free, as is typically done as part of the industry’s standard marketing procedures to market name-brand formula. Because the AAP letter does not specifically mention the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, AAP is not endorsing the requirement to pay fair-market value for formula.

The AAP already has a curriculum on breastfeeding designed for resident physicians training in pediatrics. AAP’s endorsement comes on the tail of the new perinatal Core Measures from the Joint Commission, which will start requiring hospitals to record their rates of exclusive breastfeeding in nursing mothers.

The AAP’s endorsement letter is available here.