Howard County General Hospital was recently selected to participate in a program launched by the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality to increase breastfeeding rates.

Over the next 22 months, Howard County General Hospital will work with other hospitals in the Best Fed Beginnings learning collaborative to achieve the "baby friendly" designation. In all, the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality aims to help all 90 hospitals participating in the program achieve the baby-friendly designation by September 2014.

The designation confirms a hospital has implemented the American Academy of Pediatrics-endorsed "Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding," developed by the WHO/UNICEF Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.