Аннтотация

© 2018, Dynasty Publishing House. All rights reserved. The objective. Assessment of the practice of breastfeeding support in a department of neonatal and premature infant pathology of the Tambov Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital (TRCCH) after 3–4 years of becoming a WHO/UNICEF Baby Friendly Hospital. Patients and methods. Mothers were questioned using specially designed questionnaires at their admission to the department and at discharge from hospital. Overall, 356 mothers were questioned at admission and 327 at discharge. The results were processed on the SPSS.19 statistical programme. Frequency distribution, mean values (± standard deviation) and Student’s t-coefficient were determined. Results. The practice of supporting breastfeeding in the department consisted in observance of the 10 steps of successful breastfeeding: mother and infant remaining together (98.2%), breastfeeding on an infant’s demand (91.3%), breastfeeding at night (98.6%), breast milk extraction for infant feeding and lactation stimulation (88.6%), informing mothers about the benefits and technique of breastfeeding (90.5%). The percentage of breastfed infants significantly increased by the time of discharge from the department – to 89.4% (at admission – 71.9%; p < 0.0001), among them exclusively breastfed infants – to 66.5% (at admission – 45.3%; p < 0.0001). Conclusion. The practice of breastfeeding based on current international recommendations is successfully supported in the neonatal department of TRCCH. Nevertheless, breastfeeding parameters might be considerably improved due to attainment of continuity in the work of maternity clinics and TRCCH and optimization of the practices of breast milk extraction, storage and use in the department.