Breastfeeding peer support programs

A review of nursing research literature recommends peer support for breastfeeding mothers, as it contributes to better breastfeeding duration and exclusivity rates. Promoting and supporting the development of breastfeeding peer support is a requirement of the Ontario provincial mandatory guidelines The Breastfeeding Peer Support Network project was an initiative of the city of Ottawa's Healthy Babies, Healthy Children program, and was designed to identify best practices for peer support programs The recommendations for a breastfeeding peer support network were developed as part of a clinical placement by an MScN student from the University of Ottawa. This article describes the literature search and a survey of Ontario health units and the resulting recommendations for a peer support program. Twelve Ontario health units were contacted. Interviewing nurses for this scan yielded a wealth of ideas for developing a peer support program. The final recommendations include suggestions for program design, ongoing program coordination and evaluation and development of the peer educators/volunteers network, including recruitment, orientation, ongoing in-services, documentation and recognition.