Some aspects of the evaluation of the breast feeding organization in obstetric hospitals and children’s clinics

Resumen

In order to assess the breastfeeding organization inobstetric hospitals and children’s clinics on the basisof 5 children’s clinics and children’s polyclinic departmentsof St. Petersburg, 476 mothers who had childrenaged 1 year, born in 2016-2017 in 2nd level obstetric hospitalsof St. Petersburg were surveyed. The study showedthat about 80% of children were breastfed immediatelyafter childbirth and more than half of women, while theywere in the obstetric hospital, planned to continue breastfeedingup to 12.1 ±0.08 months at average. However,the actual feeding time was 7.3±0.09 months ataverage.The main reasons for the refusal of natural feedingwere: mother’s lack of milk, the refusal of the child fromthe breast, the need to go to work and the reluctance tocontinue breastfeeding. An objective assessment of thechild’s health showed that it is dependent on the durationof breastfeeding. The longer a child receives breast milk,the better his health is. It was found that all respondentsreceived advice from a neonatologist in obstetric organizations,and 10% of children were not covered by primarycare of newborns. In general, the work of health workersin children’s clinics in support of breastfeeding washigher than that of neonatologists in obstetric hospitals(4.1±0.09 points versus 3.9±0.08 points). However, recommendationson breastfeeding from health workers inchildren’s clinics received14.5% fewer women than fromneonatologists in obstetric hospitals.