A recent review published within the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews aimed to find out the impact of ‘breastfeeding only’ and ‘breastfeeding plus’ support on the duration and exclusivity of moms breastfeeding healthy term babies.

Study: Support for healthy breastfeeding moms with healthy term babies. Image Credit: Tomsickova Tatyana / Shutterstock.com

The importance of breastfeeding

In the course of the first six months of a baby’s life, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that each one children be exclusively breastfed, meaning no other food or liquid ought to be offered. Breastfeeding ought to be done on demand, as often because the child desires, day and night.

Children should start eating complementary foods by six months while breastfeeding until they’re at the least two years old.

Each infants and moms profit from breastfeeding in the long run and short term. For instance, breastfed infants are less more likely to develop gut or lung infections, diabetes, and obesity later in life. Moreover, breastfeeding can reduce moms’ risk of diabetes and ovarian or breast cancer.

There are, nevertheless, many countries where breastfeeding rates are much lower than WHO recommendations.

In regards to the study

This study searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Trials Register to acquire randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials aligned with the present research. Two review authors independently chosen the trials, extracted data, assessed bias, and analyzed the worthiness of the study.

A meta-regression evaluation was used to find out the heterogeneity of primary outcomes using categories reminiscent of mode of delivery, income status of the country, the intensity of support, and the person providing care.

Breastfeeding support may very well be provided via phone, face‐to‐face, or digital technologies. The researchers also collected information on the intensity of the support, which may very well be defined because the variety of postnatal contacts, the person who provided the support, and the way breastfeeding support differed in high-, middle-, and low-income nations.

4 primary outcomes were assessed on this study, including stopping any type of breastfeeding before 4 to 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum, in addition to stopping exclusive breastfeeding before 4 to 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum.

Study findings

A complete of 103 trials were included within the study, which comprised greater than 98,816 mother‐infant pairs. ‘Breastfeeding only’ support likely reduced the number of ladies who stopped breastfeeding before six months and 4 to 6 weeks postpartum. Moreover, this sort of support also increased the likelihood that moms stopped exclusively breastfeeding before 4 to 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum.

Breastfeeding plus support likely reduced the number of ladies who stopped each any and exclusive breastfeeding at six months. Nonetheless, there’s less certainty whether this sort of support reduced the number of ladies who stopped breastfeeding before 4 to 6 weeks postpartum.

Moderate levels of breastfeeding-only support, defined as 4 to eight visits, had a more favorable effect on women continuing to breastfeed at 4 to 6 weeks exclusively and 6 months postpartum. As well as, this kind of support could also be simpler in reducing the cessation of exclusive breastfeeding amongst women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) before six months than women in high-income countries (HICs).

Conclusions

Breastfeeding-only support effectively increases the duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding and reduces the number of ladies who stop breastfeeding at three to 4 months postpartum. Nonetheless, despite the apparent advantages at a while points, the impact of breastfeeding plus support on reducing the discontinuance of breastfeeding should be further studied.

Any type of breastfeeding support will be provided by lay/peer supporters, professionals, or a mix of each. Nonetheless, further research is required to discover which points of breastfeeding are essentially the most effective support interventions and the way these interventions will be delivered on a bigger scale.

Journal reference:

• Gavine, A., Shinwell, S. C., Buchanan, P., et al. (2022). Support for healthy breastfeeding moms with healthy term babies. Cochrane Library. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001141.pub6.