Investigation of the effect of postpartum home visit intervention on promoting mothers’ exclusive breastfeeding in Falavarjan, Isfahan Province: clinical trial research

Background
Exclusive breastfeeding is the most ideal way to feed infants in the first 6 months of life. Various interventions have been made to encourage mothers to maintain exclusive breastfeeding.

Objectives
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of postpartum home visits on exclusive breastfeeding.

Material and methods
The study was conducted in March 2020 and is a continuation of the clinical trial from 1988 conducted at the Department Imam Khomeini Hospital Falavarjan, which was performed on 100 mothers. They were randomly assigned into two groups of 50 participant. The intervention group received care at home, and the control group received postpartum care through the health center. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software, version 16. The significance level of the test was considered as 5% (p < 0.001).

Results
The mean age of the mothers was 27 ± 6.89 years. Exclusive breastfeeding at the end of day 42 after delivery was 84% in the intervention group and 38% in the control group. There was a significant difference (p ≤ 0.001) between the two groups. 64% of mothers in the breastfeeding intervention group breastfeeding according to the desire and demand of the infan the baby compared to 10% in the control group. The use of pacifier was 16% in the intervention group and 28% in the control group. There was a significant difference (p ≤ 0.001) between feeding the infant with sugar water, and this was 4% in the intervention group and 28% in the control group.

Conclusions
Visiting and educating mothers at home after discharge has a significant effect on exclusive breastfeeding during the neonatal period.