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Proyecto BEBE: The Effect of Babywearing Education on Breastfeeding Exclusivity

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Mother-Infant Interaction
Postpartum Depression
Breastfeeding, Exclusive
Interventions
Behavioral: Babywearing
Registration Number
NCT04376021
Lead Sponsor
Nurturely
Brief Summary

To test the hypothesis that increased mother-infant physical contact affects the likelihood of mothers exclusively breastfeeding their child for the first six months of life, the investigators will randomly assign half of the participating mothers to receive a baby carrier to use with their baby (to facilitate increased physical contact) while the other half of babies and mothers will receive standard care.

Detailed Description

One hundred mothers participating in the California Border Healthy Start (CBHS) program will be randomly assigned to the physical contact group or the control group. Mothers in the physical contact group will be provided with an infant carrier to use from birth to facilitate increased mother-infant physical contact. In the control group, mothers will be provided with an infant carrier, but will not receive the carrier until postpartum week 24, once study measures have been collected. This type of multiple-baseline design will allow the investigators to objectively assess the effect of physical contact during the first six months, but will also ensure that mothers in both groups have the opportunity to benefit from the potentially positive intervention of a high quality infant carrier to promote increased mother-infant physical contact. The two groups will be compared on: 1) likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding, 2) extent of breastfeeding exclusivity (proportion of feeds that are breastmilk versus formula or other), 3) likelihood of initiating feeding in response to hunger cues versus crying (i.e., maternal responsiveness during feeding), 4) maternal score on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), 5) prevalence of breastfeeding difficulties, 6) score on the Mother-Infant Bonding Scale, and 7) beliefs about breastfeeding and infant care.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
Female
Target Recruitment
101
Inclusion Criteria

To be eligible to participate in this study, participants:

  • Must be a current participant in the CBHS program
  • Must be 18 years of age or older
  • Must be currently pregnant
  • Must be fluent in either Spanish or English
  • Must have consistent access to a smartphone with internet access (to fill out surveys and feeding logs)
  • Must have a functioning email address Must be willing to share certain personal information with the researchers
Exclusion Criteria
  • Having a birth that does not result in a live, healthy, singleton infant.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Physical ContactBabywearingBaby carrier (and education) provided to mother to increase physical contact with baby
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Proportion of infant feeds coming from breastmilk versus formulaPostpartum Week 24

Self-report feeding log

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Score on the Proximal Care Beliefs QuestionnairePostpartum Week 12

Standardized self-report questionnaire with a possible score from 6-30, with a higher score indicating increased alignment with the caretaking practices of proximal care culture

Score on Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)Postpartum Week 6

Standardized self-report questionnaire with a possible score from 0-30, with a higher score indicating increased depressive symptoms

Score on the Mother-Infant Bonding QuestionnairePostpartum Week 24

Standardized self-report questionnaire with a possible score from 0-30, with a higher score indicating increased problems with bonding

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Project Concern International

🇺🇸

San Diego, California, United States

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