Community Standards

The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative community standards

The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative standards for health visiting and children’s centre services (or equivalent) were developed in 2012. Since then, services have faced significant challenges and developments relating to the evidence base and public policy. A decision was therefore taken to review the standards in 2023 to ensure they reflect current need.

To support this, guidance was provided from an external steering group of experienced infant feeding leads from across the UK. A proposal for amended standards was developed and a consultation completed in early 2024 which took into account the feedback received.

Important: Whilst the standards for parents have been amended solely for health visiting and early years services, some of the foundation standards (assessed initially at Stage 1) have also been amended. This will therefore affect all services implementing the Baby Friendly standards (with the exception of universities).

Please also note the following:

• The revised standards include one single set of standards for community services (those which provide routine and targeted services for families with babies up to around one year of age, beyond the maternity and neonatal settings)
• Where we refer to health visiting services, this also equates to specialist public health nursing services
• Where we refer to early years services, this covers services such as family hubs, children’s centres, Sure Start centres and similar early years provision
• Whilst we anticipate that community services will progress to assessment together, it will remain possible for services to work towards and be assessed individually. Some standards will not apply in this case – these are identified in the relevant sections of the standards document.

Please contact the office if you wish to discuss any impact to your service’s assessment pathway: [email protected]