A study from Italy published in today's British Medical Journal has found that providing 18 hours of training using a Baby Friendly-style training package improves breastfeeding rates, health professional knowledge, and hospital implementation of the Ten Steps.
571 health professionals in eight Italian hospitals were trained using an earlier and amended version of the Course in Breastfeeding Management which is currently taught by the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative. The hospitals were divided into two groups. Exclusive breastfeeding at discharge increased significantly after the training (from 41% to 77% in group 1 and from 23% to 73% in group 2), as did full breastfeeding at 3 months (from 37% to 50% in group 1 and from 40% to 59% in group 2) and the rate of any breastfeeding at 6 months (from 43% to 62% in group 1 and from 41% to 64% in group 2). Adoption of the Ten Steps was increased in the hospitals (from 2.4 steps to 7.7 steps implemented) and knowledge among health workers increased significantly.
Cattaneo A, Buzzetti R (2001). Effect on rates of breast feeding of training for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. BMJ 323; 1358-1362. [Abstract]
