A practical intervention to increase breastfeeding initiation among Cambodian women in the US.

Cambodians have the lowest breastfeeding initiation rate of any racial/ethnic group in Massachusetts. One barrier to breastfeeding is a lack of hospital foods that allow women to follow a traditional diet postpartum. We examined whether a culturally acceptable menu for new Cambodian mothers would increase breastfeeding initiation in the hospital. After a staff training program on breastfeeding, and the creation of a Cambodian menu, initiation rates increased significantly more in Cambodians than in non-Cambodians. Pre intervention, breastfeeding initiation was 16.7% (2/12) among Cambodians, compared to 60.6% (106/175) among non-Cambodians (P = 0.003). Post intervention, there was no significant difference between breastfeeding initiation rates among Cambodian women (66.7%; 8/12) compared to non-Cambodians (68.9%; 104/151) (P = 0.874).