The Effect of Baby Friendly Neonatal Intensive Care Initiative on Exclusive Breastfeeding Rates following Discharge
N Bengü Karaçağlar1, Gülsüm Kadıoğlu Şimşek, Fuat Emre Canpolat
1Department of Neonatology, NICU, Ankara City Hospital, Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey (Drs Karaçağlar, Kadıoğlu Şimşek, Canpolat, Elbayiyev and Kanmaz Kutman); and Azerbaijan Medical University, Educational-Surgery Clinic, Baku, Azerbaijan (Dr Elbayiyev).
Aim:
We aimed to investigate the effect of "Baby Friendly NICU" practice on exclusive breastfeeding rates following discharge in very preterm infants.
Background:
The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
Methods:
The feeding technique, type of nutrition (breastfeeding, formula, mixed) and anthropometric measurements of the very preterm infants (≤32 gestational weeks) were recorded for every month following discharge up to corrected 6 months of age. Exclusive breastfeeding rates were compared between 2 periods before "Baby Friendly NICU" practice (group 1) and after (group 2).
Results:
Data of 252 infants, 135 in group 1 and 117 in group 2 were analyzed. Exclusive formula feeding rates decreased by 6 months age in group 2 (46 vs. 32%, P = .02); however, exclusively breastfeeding rates did not changed significantly (20% vs. 29%, P = .14).
Conclusion:
Baby friendly NICU practices significantly decreased formula feeding rates at 6 months; however, it did not have an effect on exclusive breastfeeding rates at any time point during follow-up probably due to small sample size.
