Mother's milk is the only food that an healthy newborn infant needs in his/her first six months of life.
Breast-feeding must be a specific decision about health; moreover it is one of the interventions that must be supported in the field of Maternity Care and Pediatrics, due to the fact that it has the best benefit-cost ratio. Scientific evidence shows that starting breastfeeding immediately after delivery and exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life, have a positive influence on the health of both the mother and the baby, since they improve the growth parameters of the newborn infant, they ensure a better neurobehavioral development and prevent the onset of acute and chronic diseases.World Health Organization (WHO), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Obstetricians and Ginecologists (ACOG) recommend breastfeeding in the first six months of life.
The Ministry of Health established, by Decree of the 15th of April 2008, the Multisectoral National Committee for Breastfeeding. Moreover, by means of the national program “Gaining Health” (“Guadagnare Salute”), approved in 2007 by the Council of Ministers, which focuses on the correction of the four modifiable risk factors (smoking, alcohol, unhealthy nutrition and physical inactivity), stresses as well the the support and the importance of breastfeeding.
The Region of Sicily, by the Prevention Regional Plan 2014-2018, included the general objective 1 – Regional program for the promotion of nursing, approved by the Council Decree No. 351/2016; and by the Council Decree No. 597 of the 28th of March 2017, issued the “Regional Program for the promotion of breastfeeding” which focuses on the empowerment of mothers and, more broadly on the empowerment of the community, with the purpose of the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding.
The Strategic Management of A.S.P. Ragusa adopted the regional program, that has the general objective of increasing the number of children who are fed exclusively with mother’s milk up to the sixth month of life (180 days). It has consequently issued an authority policy document which has the purpose of promoting breastfeeding, by means of the creation of a culture of nursing and by means of the widespread training of all the professionals who take care of the mother and the child during birth and postmartum periods.