A randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of a telephone consultation program on exclusive breastfeeding

Introduction: The rate of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 month postpartum was 24.3% in Taiwan based on a national survey in 2011. Increasing exclusivity and duration of breastfeeding are current policy targets. This study aims to develop a telephone consultation program and to evaluate its’ effectiveness on improving exclusive breastfeeding after hospital discharge.

Methods: We adopted a randomized-controlled trial design. Study women were recruited from 8 certificated baby-friendly hospitals. The inclusion criteria were healthy full-term singleton with birth weight >2500g. A total of 349 women were randomly assigned into the experimental (n=189) and control groups (n=160). The experimental group received 9-10 times of telephone counseling provided by obstetrical nurses after hospital discharge; while the control group received usual care. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) was used to examine differences in exclusive breastfeeding at 2 months postpartum between the experimental and control groups. 

 Results: At 2 months postpartum, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding was 35.4% for the experimental group and 24.4% for the control group (p< .05). After controlling for background differences, the GEE result showed that the women in the experimental group were 1.7 times more likely to exclusively breastfeed at 2 months postpartum (95% CI: 1.23-2.36; p= .001) comparing to the women in the control group.

 Conclusions: This is an ongoing study. We are still recruiting study participants and will follow the women up to 6 months postpartum. The preliminary results support the effectiveness of use of telephone consultation to improve exclusive breastfeeding after hospital discharge.