Rosebud IHS Hospital Receives Baby-Friendly Hospital Designation

The Rosebud IHS Service Unit has achieved designation as a Baby-Friendly Hospital, which makes it the first hospital to achieve this designation for support of breastfeeding in the Indian Health Service and in the state of South Dakota.

Co-administered by the World Health Organization and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is an evidence-based practice care model designed to protect and promote breastfeeding as the safest, healthiest way to nourish babies. Hospitals that achieve Baby-Friendly status are committed to promoting and protecting breastfeeding at all stages, including prenatal counseling, inpatient services, and community awareness. Core components of the 10-step initiative promote the benefits of breastfeeding, such as skin-to-skin contact between mom and infant, and non-separation of mother and infant.

As a result of this initiative at Rosebud IHS Hospital, breastfeeding initiation rates are now consistently in the 90th percentile and exclusive breastfeeding rates have continued to climb. “The staff and providers at Rosebud have made this program a success, and their hard work and dedication to protecting breastfeeding is evident,” says Clifton Kenon, Jr., maternal child health program manager for Aberdeen Area Indian Health Service.

“Baby-Friendly at Rosebud is a reality because every single person made a commitment to making the program a success, which is an attribute we pride ourselves on at Rosebud,” says Sophie Two Hawk, M.D., chief executive officer at Rosebud Hospital.

Rosebud’s achievement started as a campaign to decrease childhood obesity, through First Lady Michelle Obama's Let’s Move in Indian Country initiative. Rosebud IHS Hospital is one of less than 5 percent of U.S. hospitals nationally designated as Baby-Friendly.

The IHS, an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.