The effect of prenatal breastfeeding education on breastfeeding success and maternal perception of the infant.

A quasi-experimental design was used to determine the effect of prenatal breastfeeding education on maternal reports of success in breastfeeding and maternal perception of the infant. The sample consisted of 40 primiparous women who desired to breastfeed their infants. All subjects were enrolled to attend childbirth education classes and vaginally delivered full-term, healthy infants without complication. Twenty subjects attended a prenatal breastfeeding education class and 20 served as controls. Data revealed that primiparous women who received prenatal breastfeeding education reported a significantly higher frequency of success in breastfeeding than those who did not (P = 0.01). There was a significant difference in the Neonatal Perception Inventory (NPI) I scores of experimental and control subjects at one to two days postpartum (P = 0.05). The NPI II scores of the experimental mothers were significantly more positive at one month postpartum (P = 0.001). Primiparous women who received prenatal breastfeeding education reported significantly more positive NPI II scores than the control group (P = 0.001).