Clinically Integrated Breastfeeding Peer Counseling to Promote Breastfeeding Equity

Area of Science:

• Perinatal health
• Lactation support
• Health equity

Background:

• Breastfeeding disparities persist among racial and ethnic minority groups.
• Clinically integrated Breastfeeding Peer Counseling (ci-BPC) is an underutilized lactation strategy.
• Prior trials have not broadly tested ci-BPC as a generalized lactation intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if ci-BPC added to usual care reduces breastfeeding disparities.
• To evaluate the impact of ci-BPC on breastfeeding intensity and duration for Black and Hispanic/Latine participants.
• To assess implementation outcomes, facilitators, and barriers of the ci-BPC model.

Main Methods:

• Pragmatic, randomized control trial (RCT) at two hospital facilities.
• 720 patients recruited from prenatal care sites, stratified by race/ethnicity.
• Primary outcome: breastfeeding duration; secondary outcomes: proportion of breastmilk feeds.

Main Results:

• Study results are pending.
• The trial is designed to provide robust evidence on ci-BPC effectiveness.
• A process evaluation will inform future implementation and scaling.

Conclusions:

• ci-BPC shows potential for promoting racial breastfeeding equity.
• This RCT is the largest to date investigating ci-BPC in the US.
• Findings will inform policies aimed at reducing maternal and child health disparities.