OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the effects of an extended midwifery support (EMS) programme on the proportion of women who breast feed fully to six months. DESIGN: randomised controlled trial. SETTING: large public teaching hospital in Australia. PARTICIPANTS: 849 women who had given birth to a healthy, term, singleton baby and who wished to breast feed. INTERVENTION: participants were allocated at random to EMS, in which they were offered a one-to-one postnatal educational session and weekly home visits with additional telephone contact by a midwife until their baby was six weeks old; or standard postnatal midwifery support (SMS). Participants were stratified for parity and tertiary education. MEASUREMENTS: the main outcome measures were prevalence of full and any breast feeding at six months postpartum. FINDINGS: there was no difference between the groups at six months postpartum for either full breast feeding [EMS 43.3% versus SMS 42.5%, relative risk (RR) 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.87-1.19] or any breast feeding (EMS 63.9% versus SMS 67.9%, RR 0.94, 95%CI 0.85-1.04). CONCLUSIONS: the EMS programme did not succeed in improving breast-feeding rates in a setting where there was high initiation of breast feeding. Breast-feeding rates were high but still fell short of national goals. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: continuing research of programmes designed to promote breast feeding is required in view of the advantages of breast feeding for all mothers and babies. Copyright 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
RCT Entities:
OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the effects of an extended midwifery support (EMS) programme on the proportion of women who breast feed fully to six months. DESIGN: randomised controlled trial. SETTING: large public teaching hospital in Australia. PARTICIPANTS: 849 women who had given birth to a healthy, term, singleton baby and who wished to breast feed. INTERVENTION: participants were allocated at random to EMS, in which they were offered a one-to-one postnatal educational session and weekly home visits with additional telephone contact by a midwife until their baby was six weeks old; or standard postnatal midwifery support (SMS). Participants were stratified for parity and tertiary education. MEASUREMENTS: the main outcome measures were prevalence of full and any breast feeding at six months postpartum. FINDINGS: there was no difference between the groups at six months postpartum for either full breast feeding [EMS 43.3% versus SMS 42.5%, relative risk (RR) 1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.87-1.19] or any breast feeding (EMS 63.9% versus SMS 67.9%, RR 0.94, 95%CI 0.85-1.04). CONCLUSIONS: the EMS programme did not succeed in improving breast-feeding rates in a setting where there was high initiation of breast feeding. Breast-feeding rates were high but still fell short of national goals. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: continuing research of programmes designed to promote breast feeding is required in view of the advantages of breast feeding for all mothers and babies. Copyright 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors: Alison McFadden; Anna Gavine; Mary J Renfrew; Angela Wade; Phyll Buchanan; Jane L Taylor; Emma Veitch; Anne Marie Rennie; Susan A Crowther; Sara Neiman; Stephen MacGillivray Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2017-02-28
Authors: Wendy Brodribb; Maria Zadoroznyj; Michelle Nesic; Sue Kruske; Yvette D Miller Journal: BMC Health Serv Res Date: 2015-01-22 Impact factor: 2.655
Authors: Helen L McLachlan; Della A Forster; Lisa H Amir; Rhonda Small; Meabh Cullinane; Lyndsey F Watson; Touran Shafiei Journal: BMC Pregnancy Childbirth Date: 2014-10-03 Impact factor: 3.007
Authors: Helen L McLachlan; Della A Forster; Lisa H Amir; Meabh Cullinane; Touran Shafiei; Lyndsey F Watson; Lael Ridgway; Rhian L Cramer; Rhonda Small Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2016-02-01 Impact factor: 2.692