Background: Web-based prenatal education is increasingly employed, but its association with increased breastfeeding and predictors of breastfeeding success is uncertain.
Research aims: Our primary aim was to evaluate our live, online intervention's association with exclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge. Secondarily, we aimed to describe participants' reports of the intervention on predictors of breastfeeding success.
Method: We used a retrospective quasi-experimental cohort design to assess the association between our intervention and exclusive breastfeeding at discharge. The intervention consisted of an evidence-based live, online, 2-hour class open to all prenatal patients and supporters at our urban community medical center from June 2020 through April 2022. Patient characteristics and breastfeeding rates were extracted from the electronic medical record. Samples were drawn using stratified random sampling. Three logistic regression models were conducted to assess the associations between the intervention and exclusive breastfeeding. Two surveys assessed the participant reports of the intervention.
Results: Samples of the first model, comprised of 160 participants and 160 non-participants, were similar in important characteristics. Participants were 2.12 times (95% CI [1.12, 3.69]) more likely to exclusively breastfeed. Participants reported positively on the impacts of the intervention on breastfeeding predictors.
Conclusions: Our live, online intervention was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge. A randomized, prospective examination of the intervention's association with breastfeeding duration would further define its impact.
Keywords: breastfeeding; breastfeeding support; exclusive breastfeeding; maternal breastfeeding intent; online; predictors of breastfeeding success; prenatal education; virtual.