The UK policy context : reconfiguration of the Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative to reflect the importance of relationships and ensuring sustainability

![CDATA[Over the last 20 years, the Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) has succeeded in gaining national recognition for the importance of breastfeeding and creating new ‘common knowledge’ related to many breastfeeding practices in the health service and among policy makers. For example, once hotly debated topics such as skin-to-skin contact, rooming in, teaching mothers how to breastfeed and avoiding supplements are now accepted as good practice. While not every mother in the UK receives this level of support, overall standards have improved and breastfeeding initiation rates have steadily increased: from 62% in 1990, to 76% in 2005, to 81% in 2010.]]