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Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF): A Guide to Global Scale-Up is an evidence-informed global initiative from the Yale School of Public Health.
BBF is designed to target data-driven, concrete measures countries can take to sustainably increase breastfeeding rates and develop recommendations as well as plans for scaling up their breastfeeding policies and programs.
Led by Yale School of Public Health Professor Rafael Pérez-Escamilla and supported by FLRF, BBF was created to increase breastfeeding rates around the world.
Visit Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) here.
The BBF process was pre-tested in Mexico and Ghana in 2015 and has since been implemented again in these two countries and in six additional countries: England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Myanmar and Samoa. BBF is expected to continue expanding to other countries, such as China and Mozambique.
BBF helps countries make sustainable improvements to their breastfeeding outcomes based on the Breastfeeding Gear Model developed by Professor Pérez-Escamilla’s team. Participating countries assess eight simultaneous key components, called gears:
The gears are measured with corresponding benchmarks – which provide valuable data for identifying specific gaps where action is needed – and then scored to determine the strength of a country’s current national enabling environment as a whole to scale up breastfeeding programs and initiatives.
The BBF assessment takes approximately nine months to one year to complete. Detailed how-to recommendations and case studies with best practices from numerous countries, across multiple sectors, are available to help countries conduct their assessments.
Once complete, countries can draw on a suite of BBF evidence-based support tools – from how to develop communications materials to methods of conducting qualitative interviews – to help them achieve their breastfeeding objectives.
Daiy K, Arslanian K, Choy CC, Analosa Manuele-Magele, Soti‐Ulberg C, Hromi‐Fiedler A, et al. Consensus-building during the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) initiative in Samoa: A qualitative content analysis. PLOS global public health [Internet]. 2023 Apr 24 [cited 2024 Jan 22];3(4):e0001725–5. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10124882/
Vitalis D, Witten C, Pérez-Escamilla R. Gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in South Africa. PLOS ONE. 2022;17(3):e0265012. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265012
McFadden A, Kendall S, Eida T. Implementing the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly initiative in Scotland. Matern Child Nutr. 2022;e13304. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13304
Carroll G, Vilar-Compte M, Teruel G, Moncada M, Aban-Tamayo D, Werneck H et al. Estimating the costs for implementing a maternity leave cash transfer program for women employed in the informal sector in Brazil and Ghana. International Journal for Equity in Health. 2022;21(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12939-021-01606-z
Kendall S, Merritt R, Eida T, Pérez‐Escamilla R. Becoming breastfeeding friendly in Great Britain—Does implementation science work? Matern Child Nutr. 2022;e13393. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13393.
Pérez‐Escamilla R, Dykes F, Kendall S. Gearing to success with national breastfeeding programmes: The Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) initiative experience. Matern Child Nutr. 2022;e13339. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13339
Siregar AYM, Pitriyan P, Hardiawan D, Zambrano P, Vilar-Compte M, Belismelis GMT, et al. The yearly financing need of providing paid maternity leave in the informal sector in Indonesia. Int Breastfeed J. 2021;16(1):17. DOI: 10.1186/s13006-021-00363-7
Ulep VG, Zambrano P, Datu-Sanguyo J, Vilar-Compte M, Belismelis GMT, Pérez-Escamilla R, et al. The financing need for expanding paid maternity leave to support breastfeeding in the informal sector in the Philippines. Matern Child Nutr. 2021;17(2):e13098. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13098
Soti-Ulberg C, Hromi-Fiedler A, Hawley NL, Naseri T, Manuele-Magele A, Ah-Ching J, et al. Scaling up breastfeeding policy and programs in Samoa: application of the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly initiative. Int Breastfeed J. 2020;15(1):1. DOI: 10.1186/s13006-019-0245-6
Pérez-Escamilla R. Breastfeeding in the 21st century: How we can make it work. Soc Sci Med. 2020;244(112331):112331. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.036
Aryeetey R, Harding K, Hromi-Fiedler A, Pérez-Escamilla R. Analysis of stakeholder networks for breastfeeding policies and programs in Ghana. Int Breastfeed J. 2020;15(1):74. DOI: 10.1186/s13006-020-00311-x
Vilar-Compte M, Teruel GM, Flores-Peregrina D, Carroll GJ, Buccini GS, Perez-Escamilla R. Costs of maternity leave to support breastfeeding; Brazil, Ghana and Mexico. Bull World Health Organ. 2020;98(6):382–93. DOI: 10.2471/BLT.19.22989
Than MK, Nyi SN, Hlaing LM, Mar SL, Thwin T, Cashin J, et al. Scaling up breastfeeding in Myanmar through the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly Initiative. Curr Dev Nutr. 2019;3(8):nzz078. DOI: 10.1093/cdn/nzz078
Carroll G, Atuobi-Yeboah A, Hromi-Fiedler A, Aryeetey R, Safon C, Pérez-Escamilla R. Factors influencing the implementation of the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly initiative in Ghana. Matern Child Nutr. 2019;15(3):e12787. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.12787
Buccini G, Harding KL, Hromi-Fiedler A, Pérez-Escamilla R. How does “Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly” work? A Programme Impact Pathways Analysis. Matern Child Nutr. 2019;15(3):e12766. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.12766
Hromi-Fiedler AJ, Dos Santos Buccini G, Gubert MB, Doucet K, Pérez-Escamilla R. Development and pretesting of “Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly”: Empowering governments for global scaling up of breastfeeding programmes. Matern Child Nutr. 2019;15(1):e12659. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.12659
Vilar-Compte M, Teruel G, Flores D, Carroll GJ, Buccini GS, Pérez-Escamilla R. Costing a maternity leave cash transfer to support breastfeeding among informally employed Mexican women. Food Nutr Bull. 2019 Jun;40(2):171-181. DOI: 10.1177/0379572119836582. Epub 2019 Apr 29.
Carroll GJ, Buccini GS, Pérez-Escamilla R. Perspective: What will it cost to scale-up breastfeeding programs? A comparison of current global costing methodologies. Adv Nutr. 2018 Sep 1;9(5):572-580. DOI: 10.1093/advances/nmy041.
Safon C, Buccini G, Ferré I, de Cosío TG, Pérez-Escamilla R. Can “Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly” impact breastfeeding protection, promotion, and support in Mexico? A qualitative study. Food Nutr Bull. 2018 Sep;39(3):393-405. DOI: 10.1177/0379572118789772. Epub 2018 Aug 15.
Flothkötter M, Kunath J, Lücke S, Reiss K, Menzel J, Weikert C. Becoming breastfeeding friendly in Germany – an international research project to assess the readiness to scale up breastfeeding. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. 2018 Aug;61(8):1012-1021. DOI: 10.1007/s00103-018-2784-1.
Aryeetey R, Hromi-Fiedler A, Adu-Afarwuah S, Amoaful E, Ampah G, Gatiba M et al. Ghana Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly Committee. Pérez-Escamilla R, Hromi-Fiedler AJ, Gubert MB, Doucet K, Meyers S, Dos Santos Buccini G. Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly Index: Development and application for scaling-up breastfeeding programmes globally. Matern Child Nutr. 2018 Jul;14(3):e12596. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.12596. Epub 2018 Feb 22.
Pilot testing of the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly toolbox in Ghana. Int Breastfeed J. 2018 Jul 11;13:30. DOI: 10.1186/s13006-018-0172-y. eCollection 2018.
González de Cosío T, Ferré I, Mazariegos M, Pérez-Escamilla R; BBF Mexico Committee. Scaling up breastfeeding programs in Mexico: Lessons learned from the “Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly” initiative. Curr Dev Nutr. 2018 Apr 25;2(6):nzy018. DOI: 10.1093/cdn/nzy018. eCollection 2018 Jun.
Pérez-Escamilla R, Curry L, Minhas D, Taylor L, Bradley E. Scaling up of breastfeeding promotion programs in low- and middle-income countries: the “breastfeeding gear” model. Adv Nutr. 2012 Nov 1;3(6):790-800. DOI: 10.3945/an.112.002873. Epub 2018 Feb 22.
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