Promoting Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Racing/Ethnic Minority Women for the First Six Months

Abstract Background: Breastfeeding is the recommended way of feeding infants due to the numerous health benefits. However, racial/ethnic minority women in the United States are less likely to initiate and maintain breastfeeding for the recommended six months compared to white women. This has resulted in higher health issues such as obesity, diabetes type I, allergic sensitivity, acute otitis media, and gastrointestinal problems among racial /ethnic minority children. Purpose: The purpose of this Quality Improvement Project was to promote exclusive breastfeeding among racial/ethnic minority postpartum mothers for the first six months. This was done by providing breastfeeding education to postpartum nurses who then included the acquired knowledge in postpartum patients’ education. Goal: The goal of this quality improvement project was to increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding among racial/ethnic minority women by increasing nursing education. Method: A breastfeeding educational intervention was implemented to increase breastfeeding knowledge among maternity nurses. A website was created and breastfeeding interventions such as signs of poor/good infant feeding, risks of not breastfeeding, risks of formula feeding, infant hunger cues, appropriate infant position for breastfeeding, and information on available breastfeeding resources were loaded to the website for ease of access. The maternity nurses were given the url of the website to review the educational materials on the site at their convenience for one month. Results/Conclusion: 70% of the nurses self-reported that they have visited the website and reviewed the educational materials and incorporated the acquired knowledge into their patients’ education. Intention to exclusive breastfeeding did not increase post-education but the intention to breastfeed in general increased