A Pilot Study Assessing the Feasibility and Effectiveness of a Breastfeeding Educational Video on Breastfeeding Rates

Overview

Given the known health benefits of breast milk, the World Health Organization and pediatric and obstetrical professional societies all recommend that babies only consume breast milk (also referred to as "exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)") through 6 months of age. While many women initiate breastfeeding while at the study institution hospital, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding when mothers and babies are discharged is only 34%. Sixty percent of mothers stopped breastfeeding earlier than intended to primarily due to concerns about difficulty with lactation (i.e. sore nipples, inadequate milk supply), baby's nutrition (i.e weight gain and satiety) and effort required to pump breast milk. It is known that prenatal education by trained health care providers is effective in increasing EBF rates; however, these interventions are time and labor intensive and require employment of breastfeeding specialists. Therefore, a simple, brief, easily accessible breastfeeding education tool is needed to directly educated new mothers on how to breastfeed and what the actual nutritional needs of an infant are in order to support women's breastfeeding goals. The objective of this study is to assess whether a simple breastfeeding education video viewed at the time of admission to the hospital for delivery will increase EBF at the time of hospital discharge through 6 months postpartum by improving women's perception of their milk supply and their breast feeding efficiency. The investigators predict that woman who view a short breastfeeding education video just prior to delivery will have an improved perception of their breastfeeding efficiency and milk supply and will be more likely to avoid formula use while admitted to the hospital and though 6 months postpartum. In this study, the investigators will randomly assign women to view an educational video focused on breastfeeding in the first days of a baby's life and compare them to women who receive the standard educational pamphlet on breastfeeding given to all women delivering at the study institution. The investigators will then survey each participant after her delivery on how she is feeding her baby (breast milk, formula, or both) and how she perceives her milk supply and breastfeeding efficiency just before she is discharged from the hospital. The investigators will then call women on the phone at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months to reassess how they are feeding their babies (breast milk, formula or both). In addition to baseline characteristics about the individuals such as age, race, and employment status, information regarding their pregnancy and delivery will be obtained to assess for any confounding factors that may effect their ability to breastfeed. This research will help determine if video education can provide sufficient education to help increase breastfeeding rates. Additionally, this research may inform the research community on the overall effectiveness of video education in healthcare, allowing for a similar approach to be used for other educational initiatives.