A breast-feeding promotion and support program a randomized trial in The Netherlands.
BACKGROUND
In the Netherlands, the initiation rate of breast-feeding (BF) was 80% in 2002, but only 35% of the mothers continued to breast-feed for 3 months. This study examined the effectiveness of a breast-feeding promotion program to increase the continuation of breast-feeding.


METHODS
A cluster-randomized intervention trial was used. Ten child health care centers in three regions of the home health care were randomly allocated to the program or usual care. Elements in the program were health counseling, measures to enhance cooperation, early signaling of breast-feeding problems and continuity of care, and lactation consultancy. Pregnant mothers who applied for home health care in the intervention or usual care regions were enrolled and were followed up from pregnancy until 6 months postpartum (n = 683). The primary outcome measure was the continuation of breast-feeding until at least 3 months.


RESULTS
The 3-month breast-feeding rate was 32% in the intervention and 38% in the control groups (OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.58-1.08).


CONCLUSIONS
The program was not effective. We discuss possible explanations from the design and execution of the trial and give some points for improvement of our program, such as the categories of caregivers involved and the number and duration of contacts after parturition.
Kools
Els J
EJ
Department of Epidemiology, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. els.anten@epid.unimaas.nl
Thijs
Carel
C
Kester
Arnold D M
AD
van den Brandt
Piet A
PA
de Vries
Hein
H
D001942:Breast Feeding; D017028:Caregivers; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires