Breastfeeding peer counseling: policy implications

ABM clinical protocol #2: Guidelines for hospital discharge of the breastfeeding term newborn and mother: "The going home protocol," revised 2014

A central goal of The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is the development of clinical protocols for managing common medical problems that may impact breastfeeding success. These protocols serve only as guidelines for the care of breastfeeding mothers and infants and do not delineate an exclusive course of treatment or serve as standards of medical care. Variations in treatment may be appropriate according to the needs of an individual patient.

Breastfeeding peer counseling: from efficacy through scale-up

An increasing number of publications have evaluated various breastfeeding peer counseling models. This article describes a systematic review of (a) the randomized trials assessing the effectiveness of breastfeeding peer counseling in improving rates of breastfeeding initiation, duration, exclusivity, and maternal and child health outcomes and (b) scientific literature describing the scale-up of breastfeeding peer counseling programs. Twenty-six peer-reviewed publications were included in this review. The overwhelming majority of evidence from randomized controlled trials evaluating breastfeeding peer counseling indicates that peer counselors effectively improve rates of breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity. Peer counseling interventions were also shown to significantly decrease the incidence of infant diarrhea and significantly increase the duration of lactational amenorrhea. Breastfeeding peer counseling initiatives are effective and can be scaled up in both developed and developing countries as part of well-coordinated national breastfeeding promotion or maternal-child health programs.

Breastfeeding peer counseling: rationale for the National WIC Survey

Peer counseling has been recognized as an effective intervention in the promotion of breastfeeding among low-income women. This paper provides a literature review demonstrating the effectiveness of peer counseling in health care settings, especially those concerned with breastfeeding. In addition, barriers identified in the literature that limit the integration of peer counseling in medical settings are examined. The need for The National WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Survey and background information on this survey are also discussed.