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Most expectant parents anticipate giving birth to a healthy newborn. Admission of a neonate to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is thus nearly always a significant and negative shock to parents and family members. We derived core concepts for this article from the World Health Organization/United Nations Children's Fund (WHO/UNICEF)'s Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative: Revised, updated, and expanded for integrated care (2009). This framework document advocates expanding to NICUs guidelines that were originally developed for maternity units. This paper reviews the importance of breast-feeding to the mother-baby dyad and family integration. We suggest how to build a breastfeeding- friendly environment within the NICU using 10 steps that adhere to the NEO-BFHI's three "Guiding Principles". The proposed environment gives special emphasis to providing continued and unlimited kangaroo care, creating a family-centered NICU design, implementing an effective milk expression and monitoring plan, and respecting mothers' individual needs. Suggestions are provided as a reference to government policymakers and medical centers to facilitate the creation of breastfeeding-friendly environments in NICUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]