O46 - Standing together at the top – Working with women to provide breastfeeding support in a regional hospital

Abstract

Despite help from health professionals, women with GDM do not breastfeed as often as women with no-GDM. Literature suggests one way to find strategies to improve a woman’s confidence and intention to breastfeed is to provide antenatal education that is tailored to their individual needs when they have GDM, gathered from person-centred approaches. To develop a hospital-based intervention, co-designed with women who have GDM, to improve feelings of support for breastfeeding in a regional Australian hospital. A Participatory Action Research (PAR) study worked with women who had GDM over 10 workshops to ascertain their needs for breastfeeding support. These ideas were developed with staff input to provide an intervention to improve breastfeeding support for women with GDM. Thirty women with GDM participated in workshops and asked for information and breastfeeding support to be available on their phones, anytime they required it, and in a variety of formats (i.e. inclusion of breastfeeding apps and videos). Staff at the hospital developed local hospital-based webpages with consumer input to provide a well-utilized resource for women. Women with GDM will use on-line information and feel supported, if it is provided by their hospital.