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The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program that was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 1991 to promote, support, and encourage breastfeeding. BFHI recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding and mother/baby bonding. Lovelace Women’s Hospital is proud to be among these hospitals recognized as Baby-Friendly.

Why did we seek Baby-Friendly designation? 

Many of us engage in habits and routines that become second nature to us. Actions like waking up at a certain time or biting our nails are habits we either create or fall into. How do you tell the difference between an unhealthy habit and an addiction? This can be difficult since both are repetitive behaviors. Positive habits can become tools for survival, but some habitual behaviors can develop into harmful addictions.  

At the heart of nursing is a genuine desire to help people. That desire originally led Lovelace Medical Center Assistant Chief Nursing Officer, Bobby Bluford, RN, into ministry work. “I wanted to reach out to people and help them,” he adds. “I wanted to make a difference and have an impact on people’s lives.” More than twenty years ago, Bobby entered the health care industry, first in finance and then in operations where he ultimately led as the Chief Operations Officer (COO) for a hospital in Houston, Texas.

All nuts are seeds, but not all seeds are nuts. That’s how it feels when trying to explain the differences between genetic, inherited and genetically predisposed. It gets really confusing, really quickly. Let’s reference this basic chart to help our understanding.