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Colorado Baby-Friendly Hospital Collaborative

The Colorado Baby-Friendly Hospital Collaborative helps Colorado improve breastfeeding rates and support by assisting hospitals with maternity services to implement evidence-based policies and practices. The end goal is supporting hospitals to achieve and maintain Baby-Friendly designation.

The Collaborative supports participating hospitals by providing training, resources, and opportunities to improve policies and processes that impact breastfeeding outcomes.

Purple stars = Baby-Friendly designated hospitals. Blue stars = Colorado Baby-Friendly Hospital Collaborative member hospitals.

2023 Celebrate 6 Award of Breastfeeding Excellence badge

The following hospitals are members of the Colorado Baby-Friendly Hospital Collaborative. 

*Hospitals are Baby-Friendly designated by Baby-Friendly USA, Inc.

  • Aspen Valley Hospital* - Aspen
  • Avista Adventist Hospital - Louisville
  • Boulder Community Hospital* - Boulder
  • Community Hospital - Grand Junction
  • Delta County Memorial Hospital* - Delta
  • Denver Health - Denver
  • Estes Park Health* - Estes Park
  • Evans Army Community Hospital - Fort Carson
  • Good Samaritan Medical Center* - Lafayette
  • Gunnison Valley Health - Gunnison
  • Littleton Adventist Hospital - Littleton
  • Longs Peak Hospital - Longmont
  • Lutheran Medical Center* - Wheat Ridge
  • McKee Medical Center - Loveland
  • Mercy Regional Medical Center - Durango
  • Memorial Hospital Central* - Colorado Springs
  • Memorial Hospital North* - Colorado Springs
  • Parker Adventist Hospital - Parker
  • Parkview Medical Center - Pueblo
  • Platte Valley Medical Center - Brighton
  • St. Anthony North Medical Center - Westminster
  • St. Elizabeth Hospital* - Fort Morgan
  • St. Francis Medical Center* - Colorado Springs
  • St. Joseph Hospital* - Denver
  • St. Mary’s Medical Center* - Grand Junction
  • University of Colorado Hospital* - Aurora
  • Valley View Hospital* - Glenwood Springs
  • Wray Community District Hospital - Wray

​Any hospital may join the Collaborative, regardless of whether the facility is pursuing or maintaining Baby-Friendly designation.


Steps to Join the Collaborative:

  1. Review the Collaborative information letter and Baby-Friendly info handout for hospitals. Share materials with hospital leadership. 

  2. Review the Collaborative Charter and have it signed by a member of hospital leadership.

  3. Email the signed Charter to Stacy.Miller@state.co.us and provide contact information for all staff interested in being included in email contacts from the Collaborative.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program started in 1991 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to assist and recognize hospitals that offer an optimal level of care for parents and babies. Baby-Friendly USA implements the BFHI in the United States. Currently, more than 600 hospitals and birthing centers in the United States and more than 22,000 facilities worldwide are Baby-Friendly designated.

BFHI follows three core principles:

  1. Human milk fed through direct breastfeeding is the optimal way for human infants to be nurtured and nourished.

  2. The precious first days in the birth facility should be protected as a time of bonding and support not influenced by commercial interests.

  3. Every mother should be informed about the importance of breastfeeding and respected to make her own decision.

To adhere to guidelines and become recognized as Baby-Friendly, facilities must implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

The Ten Steps includes procedures important for the health and well-being of parent and baby.

  • With an educated staff, a facility is able to inform all parents and give them the confidence and skills necessary to successfully begin and continue breastfeeding or safely feed formula.

  • BFHI is about education, allowing each parent to make an informed decision about what is best for their own family.

  • Other aspects of the Ten Steps include practicing rooming-in, where parent and baby remain together during the hospital stay, breastfeeding initiation within the first hour after birth, and breastfeeding education and discharge support to help parents know where to get help.

Handouts & resources

Webinars

Webinars

All CBFHC webinar recordings can be found in this Google folder.

Additional Resources

All of the above journal articles and additional hospital/health care provider resources can be found in this Google folder

Additional reports and articles