group trends by initiative

Black Mamas Matter Alliance

(Advocates for reducing racial disparities in maternal mortality and improving maternity care access and outcomes)

• Family-centered maternity nursing (psychosocial + physiological needs)

• Involvement of partners/families in labor and cesarean births

• Decrease in maternal mortality rate from 607.9 (1915) to 17.4 (2018)

• increased access to in-home and birth center births

• Increased survival rates for preterm infants

Safe to Sleep® Campaign
(Focuses on reducing sudden infant death syndrome [SIDS] and improving infant sleep safety)

• Infant mortality rate drop from 50.1 (1915) to 5.7 (2020)

• Birth defects, prematurity, and LBW as current leading causes of infant mortality

• Education for safe infant care post-discharge (shorter postpartum stays make safe sleep education critical)

Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI)
(Promotes breastfeeding, bonding, and mother–baby rooming-in)

• Family-centered maternity nursing with focus on psychosocial needs

• Women labor, give birth, and recover in same room (rooming-in)

• Warm, homelike birthing rooms

• Involvement of partner/family in labor and birth experience

• Shorter postpartum stays with emphasis on early bonding and breastfeeding support

AWHONN (Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses)
(Supports evidence-based clinical practice and advocacy in women’s health)

• Modern labor pain interventions: support techniques, analgesics, epidurals, nitrous oxide

• Increased induction and cesarean section rates (advocacy for safe, evidence-based use)

• Policies allowing family in OR during cesarean

• Improved maternal and infant outcomes through evidence-based practice

La Leche League
(Supports and promotes breastfeeding through education and mother-to-mother support)

• BFHI-linked practices: same-room labor/birth/recovery, partner/family involvement, homelike birthing rooms

• Postpartum practices that support breastfeeding despite shorter hospital stays

• Education and advocacy for breastfeeding as part of infant health improvement efforts