![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
The World Health Organization, The United Nation Children’s Fund and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. Exclusive breastfeeding has many benefits and is known to reduce infant mortality in countries with developing infrastructure. Peer counselors have improved the rate and duration of exclusive breastfeeding in many countries through one on one education and support.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this pilot project was to implement a peer counselor intervention in Mauritania where infant mortality is high and exclusive breastfeeding rates are low. The goal of the project was to observe whether there was an improvement in the rate and duration of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers who participated in the project.
METHODS:
The pilot project was conducted in three phases. The first phase involved the selection and training of peer counselors. The second phase included the recruitment of mother-infant pairs and weekly visits by an assigned peer counselor. Simultaneously the chief investigator and a local nurse conducted two visits with each mother-infant pair to collect exclusive breastfeeding data and weigh the infant. The final phase of the pilot will take place in August when each mother will have a final visit. All data was extracted from interviews and is pending analysis.
RESULTS
The chief outcome of interest is the rate and duration of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers who participated in the pilot project. The final data collection will take place in August. The data will be compared with what is known about exclusive breastfeeding from the United Nation Children’s Fund multi-indicator cluster study (MICS). The most recent MICS was conducted in 2012.
CONCLUSIONS
Nurse led peer counselor training and facilitation resulted in peer support for a group of mothers during the first month postpartum. Pre-lacteal feedings were the most common cause for non-exclusive breastfeeding and occurred prior to the first peer counselor visit. Data gathered during this pilot project is consistent with previous studies on the effectiveness of peer counselor support on rate and duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Because of the frequent pre-lacteal feedings a better result may have been achieved if peer counselors were able to visit with expectant mothers at least once before their due date. The role of nurse leaders is essential in establishing peer counseling training and programs such as this one.