Baby-Friendly Initiative

The goal of the Baby-Friendly Initiative (BFI) is to ensure families get off to a good start with feeding their baby. The initiative promotes breastfeeding as the normal and healthiest way to feed a baby, and helps to link families to the feeding support that they need. For more information see breastfeeding support services.

Health Canada recommends babies should be exclusively breastfed to six months of age and then continue to be breastfed with appropriate complementary feeding to two years of age and beyond.

The Baby-Friendly Initiative also ensures that families have the correct information and support to use infant formula safely.

Public Health Staff offer infant feeding support for eligible prenatal and postnatal families with the Healthy Families Healthy Babies program.

Breastfeeding in New Brunswick Communities

To positively impact communities, the BFI program works with multiple partners using a variety of strategies to help normalize breastfeeding, promote health, and lower the rates of childhood diseases.

It is everyone’s responsibility to help protect, promote and support breastfeeding families in our communities.

For more information or to sign up to become a Baby-Friendly business, workplace or organization, see the Government of New Brunswick’s Breastfeeding and the Baby-Friendly Initiative.

Breastfeeding is not always easy! However, when parents feel their decision to breastfeed is supported where they live, work and play, they end up breastfeeding longer.

In celebration of World Breastfeeding Week – and all year round – watch this video to see how working together can make breastfeeding better and contribute to a healthier New Brunswick.