Effects of prenatal individualized mixed management on breastfeeding and maternal health at three days postpartum: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background: Pregnant women with antenatal depression are more prone to postpartum depression and failure in breastfeeding than women without antenatal depression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a prenatal individualized mixed management intervention on breastfeeding and maternal physical and psychological status at three days postpartum.

Methods: This randomized single-blind controlled trial was conducted from December 2017 to August 2018 with 182 primiparous women in Shanghai, China. Participants with Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores ≥9 were randomly allocated to the intervention group (n = 91) or control group (n = 91). The intervention group underwent a 4-session individualized mixed management intervention and the control group received usual care. Feeding patterns, Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (BSES), Infant Breastfeeding Assessment Scale (IBAS), and EPDS were used to measure the main outcomes. Two-tailed p-values of p < .05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: The intervention group had significantly more effective breastfeeding behavior, better breastfeeding self-efficacy, more successful breastfeeding initiation, lower EPDS scores, more sleep time, and better appetite than the control group.

Conclusion: The prenatal individualized mixed management intervention demonstrated significant short-term improvement in breastfeeding and maternal physical and psychological health at three days postpartum.

Trial registration: ChiCTR-IOR-17013761; December 7, 2017.

Keywords: Breastfeeding; Individualized mixed management intervention; Maternal health; Postpartum depression; Prenatal depression.