The Effect of Breastfeeding Education in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on Post-Discharge Breastfeeding Duration

Objective: To demonstrate the importance of breastfeeding education in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Methods: This is a cohort study of women with infants in a Regional Perinatal Center NICU (RPC), who had received breastfeeding education between November 2013 and May 2014. Phone calls were made to assess their breastfeeding status at 1 and 3 months.

Results: At 1 month, 94% were still breastfeeding, with 73% breastfeeding exclusively. By 3 months, 75% reported to still be breastfeeding. Of these, 66.7% were breastfeeding exclusively. Currently, US National averages for breastfeeding show that 79.2% of women have ever breastfed. The 1 month breastfeeding rate in our sample is higher than that (p = .012), as well as that of the Surgeon General’s Goal for Healthy People 2020, which would like to see 81.9% of women breastfeeding at hospital discharge (p = .026). Our results are also notable for an exclusive breastfeeding rate at 3 months that supersedes the national average (40.7%) and the Surgeon General’s Goal for Healthy People 2020 (42.6%.)

Conclusions: Women with infants admitted to a NICU that provides breastfeeding education and support are more likely to continue breastfeeding at 1 months and 3 months of age.

Keywords: Breastfeeding, NICU, breastfeeding education, lactation consultant, breast milk.