Hospital breast-feeding practices in Ontario

The breast-feeding practices of Ontario hospitals with live birth rates between 1,500 and 4,000 per year were assessed in 1989 by surveying hospital dietitians. The involvement of the dietitian and/or nurse in hospital based breast-feeding education was determined and differences in hospital practices where dietitians were or were not directly involved in breast-feeding education were assessed. Completed surveys were received from 42 dietitians (84% response rate) of whom 45.5% were directly involved in teaching breast-feeding classes. Practices that could be considered barriers to successful breast-feeding were found in 25% to 60% of the hospitals. The only significant difference between dietitian and nursing directed instruction was that plain water was less likely to be routinely offered to infants when dietitians were involved (p < 0.05). Dietitians will need to become more proactive within the hospital setting by working with health care team members in obstetrics to remove barriers to successful breast-feeding.