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Mother-friendly
10 Steps of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative for Mother-Friendly Hospitals, Birth Centers and Home Birth Services
To receive CIMS designation as "mother-friendly," a hospital, birth center, or home birth service must carry out our philosophical principles by fulfilling the Ten Steps of Mother-Friendly Care:
A mother-friendly hospital, birth center, or home birth service:
- Offers all birthing mothers:
- Unrestricted access to the birth companions of her choice, including fathers, partners, children, family members, and friends;
- Unrestricted access to continuous emotional and physical support from a skilled woman-for example, a doula, or labor-support professional:
- Access to professional midwifery care.
- Provides accurate descriptive and statistical information to the public about its practices and procedures for birth care, including measures of interventions and outcomes.
- Provides culturally competent care-that is, care that is sensitive and responsive to the specific beliefs, values, and customs of the mother's ethnicity and religion.
- Provides the birthing woman with the freedom to walk, move about, and assume the positions of her choice during labor and birth (unless restriction is specifically required to correct a complication), and discourages the use of the lithotomy (flat on back with legs elevated) position.
- Has clearly defined policies and procedures for:
- collaborating and consulting throughout the perinatal period with other maternity services, including communicating with the original caregiver when transfer from one birth site to another is necessary;
- linking the mother and baby to appropriate community resources, including prenatal and post-discharge follow-up and breastfeeding support.
- Does not routinely employ practices and procedures that are unsupported by scientific evidence, including but not limited to the following:
- shaving;
- enemas;
- IVs (intravenous drip);
- withholding nourishment;
- early rupture of membranes;
- electronic fetal monitoring;
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