Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in an Urban Academic Hospital

Abstract

This quality improvement initiative resulted in a higher number of infants exclusively breastfed in our patient population at "high risk not to breastfeed." Other hospitals can use these described methods and techniques to improve their EBF rates.

Trends in rooming‐in practices among hospitals in the United States, 2007‐2015

“…Newborn teaching rounds and newborn assessments have previously been cited as reasons for removing infants from their mothers’ rooms, yet have been overcome by obtaining portable equipment to perform newborn assessments in the mothers’ rooms. 13 …”

“…28 Efforts to conduct newborn assessments and physician rounds at the bedside, among others, have been documented to increase rooming-in, from a rare occurrence, to occurring among 98% of mother-infant dyads in one hospital. 13 …”

“…12 Family members and hospital staff also may suggest an infant be sent to the nursery to allow the mother to sleep. 13 One study has found, however, that mothers get as much sleep when their baby is in their room as when their baby is in the nursery. 32 One hospital began routinely keeping the baby with the mother rather than asking if she would like her baby moved to the nursery.…”

“…Newborn teaching rounds and newborn assessments have previously been cited as reasons for removing infants from their mothers' rooms, yet have been overcome by obtaining portable equipment to perform newborn assessments in the mothers' rooms. 13 Physician reluctance to perform routine procedures in the mothers' room has also been cited as a barrier to rooming-in, but rooming-in has been found to actually save time because staff are able to provide parental education during bedside procedures. 28 Efforts to conduct newborn assessments and physician rounds at the bedside, among others, have been documented to increase rooming-in, from a rare occurrence, to occurring among 98% of mother-infant dyads in one hospital.…”

“…10,11 Mothers who room-in are better able to learn and detect their infants’ hunger cues 12 and are more likely to be exclusively breastfeeding at hospital discharge. 13,14 Studies have also suggested that rooming-in facilitates mother-infant bonding, which, in turn, positively influences breastfeeding. 15 Furthermore, rooming-in promotes family-centered care as the infant is not taken away for pediatric rounds and other routine procedures.…”