Fomento de la lactancia materna, programa Iniciativa Hospital Amigo del Niño y la Madre, en Hospital Barros Luco Trudeau

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Maternal breastfeeding plays a fundamental role in growth and development of children during the first month of life and a far fetching effect on the mother-child bonding. In Chile at the end of the 70s exclusive breastfeeding had a prevalence of no greater than 5%, which provided the impulse to join the UNICEF programme of breast feeding promotion called the Hospital Friend of the mother and child iniciative at the start of 1992. Objective: To implement and evaluate the UNICEF programme in a southern part of the Metropolitan Region. Materials and Methods: The following mechanisms of intervention were implemented: a) to document the practice of breastfeeding in the 3 levels of health care attention. b) capacitation of personnel (20 hours of practical theory) by a previously trained team. c) changes in administration and techniques during the birth and care of the recent newborn, contemplating the redistribution of human resources, atentin at birth with early mother child contact and in incorporation of the father in the birthing room. Markers at follow-up were defined as: a) the number of attentions with early mother child contact (Apego) b) number of milk formulas distributed during maternity c) hospitalizations of the newborn with jaundice d) calculation of the cost of preparation of milk formulations e) hospitalizations for phototherapy f¨) prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months documented in outpatients of a primary care clinic in a Public Health Service. Results: The independent variable Apego significantly correlated with the decrease in the use of milk formulas (r = -0.94), decrease in hospitalizations for phototherapy (r = -0.9l). There was a significant increase in exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life, 47% in 1994 and 65% in 1997 (p < 0.01). Conclusions: The results show that this programme facilitated early mother child bonding, decreasing the need for hospitalizations for phototherapy, decreasing costs and helping to increase the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life.