UCC survey to promote breast-feeding services

THE challenges of breast-feeding and the type of back-up available is the subject of a nationwide survey which will help inform how breast-feeding support services can be improved.

Up to 4,000 mothers have been canvassed by eumom.com as part of the survey compiled by midwifery and public health nursing researchers in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at University College Cork (UCC).

The survey is geared at mothers with babies under the age of two, and asks questions, such as “Can breast-feeding support services be improved?” “Do you breast-feed or bottle feed your baby?” “Are you happy with the support services provided by public health nurses in Ireland?”

Principal investigator Patricia Leahy-Warren said public health nurses are also being canvassed for their views as part of the national infant feeding survey.

“There are two strands to this survey – eumom.com sent out questionnaires to 4,000 mothers to seek their views and then we interviewed public health nurses, not just about direct care to the individual, but the type of referrals they make to other support groups within the community, be they voluntary or private lactation specialists,” Ms Leahy-Warren said.

“We want to know what resources they have accessed, and whether they are better in urban or rural areas or in the east of the country or the west,” she said.

Ms Leahy-Warren said the main aim of the study is to evaluate the responsiveness, timeliness and appropriateness of public health nursing breast-feeding services.

The survey investigators hope to compile the results by the end of June and are appealing to mothers who received a postal questionnaire from eumom.com to get online and respond to the survey questions.

So far, 1,000 postal replies have been received.

In addition, mothers who have infants under the age of two years, but who have not received a questionnaire, are invited to access the information online via www.eumom.ie [parenting and pregnancy resource website] or www.surveymonkey.com/mothersquestionnaire.

The survey, which was commissioned by the Health Service Executive (HSE), is confidential and for each completed questionnaire a contribution will be made to the Irish Sudden Infant Death Association (ISIDA).