ENroute Yearbook 2015-16
The Baby Friendly Initiative
Margaret Moran, School of Health & Social Care, Senior Fellow
I am Edinburgh Napier’s representative on the Scottish Infant Advisory Network
(SIFAN) group. This group is affiliated with the National group (NIFAN), therefore the
whole of the UK feeds into it. This membership ensures that the midwifery team
remain up to date with all the latest policies, procedures and research around infant
nutrition and that they have access to the latest education materials that support
their teaching.
The Dean of the School of Health & Social Care has instructed the midwifery team
to ensure that the curriculum is ‘baby friendly’ (a UNICEF worldwide initiative). I have
taken the lead for this and to date have successfully led the team through the first
two stages; the last stage was achieved in October 2016. I am now in the process
of facilitating the students to prepare for the final stage. The other two universities
that offer the midwifery programme in Scotland have already been awarded ‘baby
friendly’ status. I will ensure Edinburgh Napier achieves this next year.
The Baby Friendly Initiative
The Baby Friendly Initiative logo
During the dialogue for the application of Senior Fellow, I discussed the above
activities at length. Facilitating the midwifery team and students to ensure our
curriculum is ‘baby friendly’ is a role that has included updating myself and the team
and ensuring that all the students have the most current teaching and learning
throughout their programme. This is a Scottish Government, university and team
goal that will impact on infant nutrition and health improvement in Scotland. For
myself, it has included teaching and assessing throughout the clinical areas in
Lothian and joint working with other agencies in three health boards in Scotland.
During the dialogue, it was fascinating how the skill of the interviewer led the
conversation around the topic and pulled out the areas of activity, core knowledge
and professional values incorporating leadership and change management. An
interesting and ultimately enjoyable process – if not nerve wracking at the time!
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