With New Grant, University of Oklahoma Expands Breastfeeding Initiative to Rural Hospitals

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Research increasingly shows the health benefits of breastfeeding, including a reduced risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer and infections for the baby and a lower chance of hypertension, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer for the mother.

However, new mothers often need support to begin breastfeeding in the hospital and to continue after they go home. The University of Oklahoma recently earned a grant to provide that support to rural areas of the state.

The Oklahoma Breastfeeding Resource Center, a program at the OU Health Sciences campus in Oklahoma City, received the three-year grant from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) to extend its services to 10 rural Oklahoma hospitals. TSET invests in a variety of initiatives designed to improve the health of Oklahomans.

“Starting breastfeeding and improving the duration of breastfeeding are significantly influenced by what happens in the hospital at the time of delivery,” said Becky Mannel, MPH, director of the Oklahoma Breastfeeding Resource Center (OBRC) and a clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the OU College of Medicine at the OU Health Sciences. “There is a critical window of time: If breastfeeding is routine practice in the hospital and the mother and baby are well-supported, they are much more likely to continue breastfeeding after discharge.”

The OBRC will provide the training and resources a hospital needs to become Baby-Friendly, an international designation that centers around breastfeeding support and mother-baby bonding. For hospitals, it means a commitment to several key clinical practices, including educating pregnant women and their families about the importance of breastfeeding. Hospital staff also help mother and baby experience skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding immediately after birth and to “room in” together 24 hours a day. If there is a medical reason that a breastfed baby needs additional milk, hospitals will provide safe donor human milk from the Oklahoma Mothers’ Milk Bank, the state’s nonprofit milk bank.

Many hospital staff and providers have not received adequate training on breastfeeding support, Mannel said. Baby-Friendly hospitals train staff and providers and do not accept free formula or give away free samples. Studies show that if a hospital supports exclusive breastfeeding, mothers are more likely to continue breastfeeding when they get home.

Since 2012, OBRC has helped 12 Oklahoma hospitals earn Baby-Friendly designation. OBRC’s new grant will cover most costs associated with a hospital’s pursuit of the designation, notably online and in-person training for staff and providers, technical assistance for practice changes and prenatal and postpartum lactation support for mothers.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for approximately six months after birth and continued breastfeeding (along with appropriate foods introduced at about six months) for two years or beyond. About 84% of women begin breastfeeding in the United States, but only 27% are exclusively breastfeeding at six months. In Oklahoma, breastfeeding initiation averages 78% and the exclusive breastfeeding rate drops to 20% at six months. However, the percentages are lower in many rural parts of Oklahoma.

“Part of what makes our infant mortality rates so high is a lack of quality breastfeeding care,” said Jaclyn Huxford, a board-certified lactation consultant with OBRC. “We want our services to support a mother across the continuum, from pregnancy to the hospital stay to the months after she goes home with her new baby.”

For more information about the Oklahoma Breastfeeding Resource Center, visit www.ouhsc.edu/breastfeeding or email obrc@ouhsc.edu.