Evaluation of an Initiative to Increase Rates of Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Rural Hispanic Immigrant Women

This project was a retrospective evaluation of the prenatal education component of a multi-component breastfeeding promotion intervention. The educational portion of this program, provided in Spanish using intercultural communication techniques, was designed to increase the number of Hispanic women who choose to initiate breastfeeding, using breast milk exclusively to nourish their newborns. The Hispanic women included in this program were all registered with a local prenatal-care coordination program for low-income women, had routine hospital births (both vaginal and C-section) and elected to participate in the prenatal education class. Data regarding intention to breastfeed and breastfeeding during hospitalization were gathered through chart reviews. The intervention group (n= 39) had a 53.8% rate of intent to breastfeed, compared to 37.5% in the usual care group (n=32), which is clinically significant. Reaching statistical significance, 41% of the mothers who attended the educational intervention achieved exclusive breastfeeding at discharge, compared to only 3.1% of the usual care group. Additionally, secondary analysis revealed that 77.1 % of all participants did not receive access to Lactation Consultation services. Future components, to be implemented and evaluated incrementally, will address the mother’s continuous effort to exclusively breastfeed her infant through the baby’s sixth month of life, and then continuing to breastfeed with the addition of solid foods through the first year of the baby’s life.