Effect of Antenatal Lactation Counselling and Postnatal Lactation Support in Improving Breastfeeding Initiation Rates and Exclusive Breastfeeding in Less Educated Mothers of Rural Area of Chandu- Budhera

Abstract

BACKGROUND Human breast milk is the best source of nourishment for the human infants. Breastfeeding promotes health and helps to prevent disease. Antenatal lactation counselling and postnatal lactation support have an impact in initiation of breastfeeding immediately after birth and in practicing exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months of infant's life. The objective of this study is to study the impact of antenatal lactation counselling and postnatal lactation support to mothers of newborns in improving breastfeeding initiation rates and continuation of exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months of infant's life as compared to mothers of newborns not provided such counselling. MATERIALS AND METHODS For 4 months, 151 mothers of newborns received the usual verbal advice for breastfeeding from hospital staff (Control group). For another 4 months, 155 mothers of newborns received proper antenatal lactation counselling and postnatal lactation support by Paediatric residents and nursing staff trained in lactation counselling (Intervention group). RESULTS 95% of counselled mothers (Intervention group) initiated breastfeeding immediately after birth in comparison to 78% of noncounselled mothers (Control group). Similarly, 87% of counselled mothers (Intervention group) practiced exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months of infant's life in comparison to 19% of non-counselled mothers (Control group). CONCLUSION Antenatal lactation counselling and postnatal lactation support help in improving initiation of breastfeeding immediately after birth and practicing exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months of infant's life.

Women's Empowerment and Determinants of Early Initiation of Breastfeeding: A Scoping Review

“…The successful modes of delivery by health professionals were regularly monitored antenatal care in health facilities, predesigned nutrition education by nutritionist, and additional sessions that were inserted in frequent meetings for microcredit female recipients. In one hand, antenatal education was suggested as a promising intervention for mothers with low educational level (Kapur et al, 2017), particularly in empowering mothers to access antenatal care services and better prepare baby delivery (Ananthakrishnan et al, 2012;Ingram, MacArthur, Khan, Deeks, & Jolly, 2010;Kawaguchi et al, 2014). In a longer term, a regular antenatal care visit positively correlated with exclusive breastfeeding practice (Tariku et al, 2017).…”

“…2011). Meanwhile, one study was a non-RCT (Kapur, Yamini Gupta, & Kumar, 2017). Our review identified two cohort studies recalling mothers' experience on the time of breastfeeding initiation and evaluating the factors associated with the EIBF practice (Khanal, Scott, Lee, Karkee, & Binns, 2015;Patel et al, 2015).…”

“…This review identified studies discussing interventions that can help increase the rate of EIBF. In general, this review identified interventions in the form of antenatal counseling and delivered by either health professionals (Flax et al, 2014;Kapur et al, 2017;Kellams et al, 2016) or trained peers (Ananthakrishnan et al, 2012;Ara et al, 2018;Haider et al, 2000). On the other hand, educational methods delivered by health professionals as complementary interventions during the intrapartum period were also identified (Khadivzadeh et al, 2017;Mahmood et al, 2011;Thakur et al, 2012).…”

“…More than 80% of mothers reported that peer counselors are the main source to practice EIBF (Ara et al, 2018). Meanwhile, the education delivered by health professionals during pregnancy included antenatal lactation counseling (Kapur et al, 2017), video playing on breastfeeding (Kellams et al, 2016), and health education as an additional session in women's microcredit program (Flax et al, 2014).…”

“…Mothers who completed at least four antenatal care visits were more likely to perform EIBF compared with mothers who did not comply (Acharya & Khanal, 2015). In addition, mothers who received breastfeeding education Chandrashekhar et al, 2007x Colombara et al, 2015 x Dubois & Girard, 2003 x Exavery et al, 2015 x x Fjeld et al, 2008 x Flax et al, 2014 x x Haider et al, 2000 x x Kapur et al, 2017 x x Kellams et al, 2016 x x Khadivzadeh et al, 2017 x x Khanal et al, 2015 x x Kohan et al, 2016 x Mahmood et al, 2011 x x Musaiger & Abdulkhalek, 2000 x Nickkhaha, 2015…”