Effectiveness of structured education and follow-up in the management of perceived breastmilk insufficiency: A randomized control trial

Abstract

In this study, we examine the effectiveness of structured education and follow-up in the management of perceived milk insufficiency and in increasing the baby’s amount of milk intake in breastfeeding mothers. We conducted a randomized controlled trial over the period December 2018-June 2019 at Family Health Centers in Turkey with 64 mothers (intervention group: 33 and control group: 31). We provided the intervention group with education using structured educational material. A Descriptive Information Form, a Breastfeeding Follow-up Form, and the Scoring System for Measuring a Baby’s Intake of Breast Milk were the instruments we used in the data collection. Mothers in the intervention group started breastfeeding their babies in the first one hour after birth. We observed at each monitoring that a significantly greater percentage of the mothers in the intervention group believed their milk to be sufficient and that they fed their babies exclusively with breast milk in the three follow-ups. We found from the data we obtained that all three tracking times indicated that the baby’s amount of milk intake in the intervention group was better than in the control group; the differences were statistically significant. We concluded that structured education and follow-ups increased the exclusive breastfeeding of 0-2-month-old babies, improved perceptions of sufficient milk intake, diminishing the perception of breast milk deficiency.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2021.2007249

Acknowledgment

This study was performed as a master thesis in the Department of Midwifery at Health Sciences Institute at Aydın Adnan Menderes University. We would like to show our gratitude to all women participating in the study. We also thank the midwives, nurses and other health staff working at Family Health Centers where the research was conducted for their facilitation.

Author contributions

Study design: MS, ZK

Data collection: MS

Data analysis: MS, ZK

Study supervision: ZK

Manuscript writing: MS, ZK

Critical revisions for important intellectual content: MS, ZK

Disclosure statement

There was no conflict of interest between the authors of this study.

Ethical considerations

Approval for the study protocol was granted by Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Health Sciences, Non-interventional Clinical Studies Ethics Committee (Date: August 23, 2017; No. 92340882-050.04.04), and permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Yalova Provincial Health Directorate (Date: December 11, 2018; No. 49654233-604.02-1777).

Funding

No funding was obtained for this study and expenses were covered by the researchers themselves.