The guidance, issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) sets out a standard of care that women and their new babies can expect from labour through to eight weeks after birth.

It recommends personalised care for mothers—in which an individual care plan would be drawn up soon after birth—and a move away from the more common "tick box" approach. The guideline also says that all care providers, whether in hospitals or primary care, should implement an externally evaluated, structured programme that encourages breast feeding. The programme should use as a minimum standard the "baby friendly initiative," a worldwide programme run by Unicef and the World Health Organization.