title: Counselling sessions increased duration of exclusive breastfeeding: a randomized clinical trial with adolescent mothers and grandmothers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Considering that adolescent mothers may be more vulnerable to discontinuing exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) before 6 months and that their mothers may exert a negative influence on this practice, this study was conducted with the objective of evaluating the efficacy of breastfeeding counselling for adolescent mothers and their mothers in increasing EBF duration.
  
  
  METHODS
  A clinical trial was performed in 323 adolescent mothers with newborns and their mothers randomized in four groups: (1) not living with mother, without intervention; (2) not living with mother, with intervention; (3) living with mother, without intervention, (4) living with mother, with intervention. The intervention consisted of five counselling sessions directed to mother and grandmother, in the maternity hospital and on follow-up. Information about feeding practices during the newborn's first six months of life was collected monthly by telephone. Intervention's efficacy was measured through Cox regression and comparison of exclusive breastfeeding medians and survival curves for the different groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intervention increased the duration of EBF by67 days for the group which included grandmothers (HR = 0.64; CI 95% = 0.46-0.90) and 46 days for the group which did not include grandmothers (HR = 0.52; CI 95% = 0.36-0.76).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Counselling sessions in the first four months of children's lives proved to be effective in increasing EBF duration among adolescent mothers.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00910377.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Ramiro Barcelos, 2400, bairro Santa Cecília, CEP 90035-003 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. dialu73@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dias de Oliveira
authors.forename: Elsa Regina
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Justo Giugliani
authors.forename: Lilian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Córdova do Espírito Santo
authors.forename: Leandro
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Meirelles Nunes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors