It's Breast Practice: Promoting Breastfeeding through Well Timed Collaboration

Breastfeeding is looked at as the gold standard for newborn feeding method; the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the infant's first 6 months of life. Breastfed infants are known to be healthier and are less likely to become obese during early childhood. Yet, at a large tertiary medical center, only 56% of mothers choose to breastfeed their newborns. Postpartum mothers were surveyed at hospitalization for childbirth to identify potential interventions to promote breastfeeding and the best timing for providing support.

Data was collected from 74 mothers who delivered at this institution during a 1 month period. Two themes resonated across the sample: infant feeding methods were decided before pregnancy and information about breastfeeding was desired early in pregnancy. Interestingly the majority of women were not provided education about breastfeeding by a nurse or physician.

These findings indicate that our proposed plan, to promote breastfeeding at the 28 week prenatal visit, should become part of the initial prenatal visit. We also recognize our need to collaborate with the obstetrical and pediatric teams so that consistent messages are delivered. While we continue to strive to be certified as a baby friendly hospital the informal messages that are delivered to mothers about infant nutrition maybe as strong as our formal policies.