The Effects of Exclusively Rooming-In on Breastfeeding Rates

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether the rooming-in model of postpartum care has improved breastfeeding rates at Augusta University Medical Center. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we reviewed the medical records of 302 mother-baby pairs before exclusively rooming in (BERI) and 305 pairs after exclusively rooming in (AERI) to determine rooming-in’s effect on breastfeeding rates. The primary outcome was inpatient breastfeeding rates, while the secondary outcome was breastfeeding rates at six weeks postpartum. RESULTS: The data shows a significant decrease in inpatient breastfeeding rates from 59.6% BERI to 48.9% AERI (p=0.028), but a significant increase in six-week exclusive breastfeeding rates from 17.0% BERI to 32.4% AERI (p=0.017). Black mothers and single mothers show a decrease in inpatient breastfeeding rates (39.8% to 31.7% and 36.7% to 34.4%, respectively), but an increase in 6-week breastfeeding rates (8.2% to 13.6% and 5.4% to 16.6%, respectively) from BERI to AERI. White mothers and married mothers show little difference in inpatient breastfeeding rates (75.6% to 73.3% and 73.5% to 72.3%, respectively), but a significant increase in 6-week breastfeeding rates (37.0% to 51.7% and 38.2% to 53.9%, respectively) from BERI to AERI. CONCLUSION: This study shows that overall, exclusively rooming-in did not improve immediate breastfeeding rates postpartum, but did improve six-week postpartum breastfeeding rates. Stratification by race and marital status shows that these are two variable that have an effect modification on breastfeeding rates with regards to rooming-in.