Profile of calls to a breastfeeding clinic information and help telephone line

Breastfeeding mothers need orientation and help in order to succeed with breastfeeding. Lack of support from health professionals and societal barriers result in a median duration of breastfeeding in Puerto Rico of only 3 weeks. A telephone warm line at our breastfeeding clinic tries to provide some much-needed support and orientation. The purpose of this study was to determine the principal reasons for calls to the warm line and the action taken by the counselor. Five hundred and thirty three calls were received in a 4-month period. They were handled by certified lactation educators who gathered demographic and feeding information from the mother and registered the action taken. Descriptive analysis was used with crosstabs tables and multi-response analysis; chi-square test was used to establish the association between variables. 78.7 of callers were breastfeeding fully, while 21.3 were breastfeeding partially or formula feeding, 62.8 of the babies were 2 months old or less. 68.8 of the calls originated in the metropolitan San Juan area. The source of the referral was family/friend in 64.2 of calls, while only 9.8 of the callers were referred by a physician, 3.0 by hospital personnel and 2.0 by other health care providers. Significant differences between full breastfeeders and partial or artificial feeders were found in calls related to position (p = 0.01), engorgement (p = 0.04), breast refusal (p = 0.001), product information (p = 0.02), medications (p = 0.009), breastmilk management and storage (p = 0.001), and relactation (p = 0.02). Actions taken by the counselor included orientation, referral to breastfeeding specialist physician and referral to breastfeeding support groups or classes. Results indicate that more active promotion of referral to breastfeeding support groups or classes is warranted since this action was taken in only 14.5 of fully breastfeeding mothers and 12.6 of partial breastfeeding or formula users. Promotion of the warm line among physicians, hospitals and other health care professionals is also needed.

Puerto Rican health teachers: attitudes towards breastfeeding

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to identify attitudes towards breastfeeding and support for breastfeeding in public in a group of health teachers in the Department of Education. METHOD: The study design was correlational descriptive. A self-administered questionnaire was used (Cronbach's alpha = 0.83) for 125 health teachers. Descriptive and inferential statistics (chi square and t test) were used for data analysis. RESULTS: 89.6 were women, 47.1 had 39 years of age or less, 76.4 were married, the median of years in the profession was 12.5. Only 8.8 had breastfed exclusively, 46.1 used artificial feedings exclusively, and 45.1 combined artificial milk and breast milk. A moderate/negative attitude towards breastfeeding was shown by 53.1. 60.3 stated they agreed or totally agreed that in order to breastfeed the mother must follow a specific diet, 36.0 agreed or totally agreed that breast milk should alternate with artificial milk, and 100 of participants do not support breastfeeding in public. No significant difference was found in the attitude scale towards breastfeeding and the gender, the age, years in the profession, and the type of milk given their children. CONCLUSIONS: We must train teachers in the Department of Education, on a priority basis, in the field of human lactation in view of their importance for health promotion.