Postnatal women's breastfeeding beliefs, practices, and support during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional comparative study across five countries.

BACKGROUND: Women with COVID-19 experienced numerous concerns and doubts about the safety of breastfeeding their babies, and lack of support may have impacted breastfeeding practices. This study aims to compare breastfeeding beliefs, practices, and contact with healthcare professionals regarding the level of postnatal feeding support provided during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. METHODS: A multi-country cross-sectional study was conducted with postnatal women in five countries. Women up to six months postpartum were invited to complete an online survey concerning the transmission of preventative measures, beliefs toward breastfeeding, infant feeding practices in the last 24 hours and experiences of postnatal infant feeding support between July to November 2021. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the association. RESULTS: Of the 3,253 eligible responses received, 39.5% of children were aged between one and two months, but in Taiwan (36%) and South Korea (42.8%) they were between three and four months. The mean of the belief score was significantly different among countries (p < 0.0001). Women in Brazil and the UK had a higher rate of breastfeeding at the breast (90.7% and 85.4%, respectively) compared to the three Asian countries (p < 0.0001) while feeding with expressed breastmilk in Thailand (59.9%), Taiwan (52.6%), and South Korea (50.4%) was higher than the others (p < 0.0001). Brazil and UK mothers (mean = 16.0 and 14.5 respectively) had a higher mean score for belief toward breastfeeding during the COVID-19 than the others. These results are inversely associated with breastfeeding but positively related to formula feeding practice. Postnatal feeding support during the COVID-19 pandemic was mainly provided by healthcare professionals (67.1%) and peers / family through face-to-face personal contact (51.6%) in all countries. CONCLUSION: Some differences were found in breastfeeding beliefs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Asian countries. A positive breastfeeding belief was associated with the practice of breastfeeding at the breast. Women from all countries received postpartum infant feeding support from health professionals and peers / family through personal contacts. Governments need to emphasize and disseminate the importance of breastfeeding safety, especially in Asian countries.

COVID-19 control measures and their effectiveness in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital

Objectives: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic requires multilevel comprehensive epidemic prevention measures from the central government to hospitals and from hospitals to departments in order to control it. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of infection control measures implemented by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital. Methods: Strategies were developed to deal with high-risk cases, newborn transportation, parental classes, and visits and companions. These strategies included early risk identification, infant exposure reduction, alternative health education tactics, and visitor management. Results: In 2020, 16 high-risk patients received care at our department. No confirmed COVID-19 cases and nosocomial infections were noted. Exclusive breastfeeding rate during the period of January to June 2020 was 44.8%, an increase of 1.3% and 1.5% over the same period in 2019 and 2018, respectively. The rooming-in rate was 7.7%, similar to that (7.5%) of the same period in 2019. Session-specific attendance rates in prenatal parenting classes were 4.4% for second semester and 4.7% for third semester expectant mothers;there was no significant change compared with the 2019 rates (4.5% and 4.6%). The attendance rate of expectant fathers was 1.8% for the second semester and 1.6% for the third semester, a decrease of 0.7% and 1.1%, respectively, compared with the 2019 rates. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions: The infection control measures implemented for eariy risk identification, infant exposure reduction, alternative prenatal parenting education, and visitor management were effective as no COVID-19 case occurred and the quality of patient care and treatment was maintained. © 2021 Chinese Public Health Association of Taiwan. All rights reserved.