Breastfeeding

Proactive mother-to-mother support by telephone helps mothers to breastfeed for six months or longer

The World Health Organization and Australian health authorities recommend to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of a baby’s life, feeding no other fluids or solids. Although most women in Australia start to breastfeed their baby, they often give up after some time. Only 15% of babies are still exclusively breastfed when they are five months old. Breastfeeding as a new mother can be difficult. This study explored if proactive mother-to-mother support helps with keeping up breastfeeding for six months or longer.
The study was carried out between February 2013 and December 2015 in three hospitals in Melbourne. Over 1500 first-time mothers took part.

Research team: Della Forster, Lisa Amir, Helen McLachlan, Touran Shafiei, Rhonda Small, Fiona McLardie-Hore, Heather Grimes, Christine East; in collaboration with Anita Moorhead, Royal Women’s Hospital; Mary-Ann Davey, Monash University; Cindy-Lee Dennis, University of Toronto; Lisa Gold, Deakin University; Kate Mortensen and Susan Tawia, Australian Breastfeeding Association

The study received funding from The Felton Bequest, Australia and La Trobe University.

The study found that 75% of the women who received phone support were still breastfeeding their six months old baby. In contrast, only 69% of the women who received the usual care were still breastfeeding at six months. These results show that it would be of great benefit to new mothers and their babies, if such peer support for breastfeeding would be widely available.

The main outcomes paper [external link] was published in EClinicalMedicine in 2019. The study was featured in The Age newspaper in an article titled "Mum-to-mum phone support boosts breastfeeding: Study" (Miki Perkins, 6 March 2019) and also in an interview on ABC Radio with Jon Faine on March 6, 2019.

Find more details on the Ruby webpage

Understanding community attitudes and identifying design solutions to increase women’s comfort with breastfeeding in public

Breastfeeding is important for maternal and child health. This is the public health message. Mothers should feel free to breastfeed whenever and wherever they need to. Yet there are many deterrents to breastfeed in public.

This project explored design features and community attitudes to breastfeeding in public. We wanted to find out which of these invite and which deter breastfeeding in public.

We conducted interviews and focus groups with breastfeeding mothers in three local government areas in 2016. In 2018, we did our research at The Royal Women’s Hospital.

Research team: Lisa Amir, Stephanie Amir, Helene Johns; in collaboration with Julie Rudner, La Trobe University; Jenny Donovan, Inclusive Design; Miranda Buck, Australian Breastfeeding Association; Sinead Currie and Pat Hoddinott, University of Scotland

We received input from over 80 mothers who spoke five languages. Also health professionals and council planning staff participated in our research. Using these data, we have developed design guidelines. These guidelines outline how a range of everyday shared spaces could become breastfeeding-friendly. They also suggest optimal design characteristics for dedicated breastfeeding spaces.

This research was supported by a La Trobe Building Healthy Communities Research Focus Area grant.

An article about this study [external link] was published in The Conversation in June 2019.

Advice for health providers and consumers who are often unsure about the safety of medicines when a woman is breastfeeding

Fear of medicines is increasingly leading women to stop breastfeeding unnecessarily. Most medicines can be used safely during breastfeeding at the recommended dose, but there are exceptions that necessitate caution.

Medicine use for breastfeeding women is an ongoing research topic at the Judith Lumley Centre. Several research projects have been undertaken over time. Please refer to the Medicines and breastfeeding webpage for further details.

Understanding antibiotic prescribing for mastitis in breastfeeding women

This project has two components:

• The first part used the MedicineInsight dataset with information collected from general practices around Australia to describe how general practitioners treat mastitis with antibiotics.
• The second part involved in-depth interviews with general practitioners to understand how they make decisions about prescribing for breastfeeding women.

Research team: Lisa Amir, Sharinne Crawford, Méabh Cullinane; in collaboration with Luke Grzeskowiak

This project was funded by the Therapeutic Guidelines Ltd/RACGP Foundation (2020-2021).

SUMMIT (SUpporting Mothers Milk Intervention Trial)

Domperidone is a commonly used treatment for low breastmilk production, but the optimal dose is unclear. SUMMIT is a multicentre, double-blind, randomized controlled trial comparing different doses of domperidone for treating lactation insufficiency in mothers of preterm infants. The primary aim is to determine if administering a higher dose of domperidone (60 mg/day) compared to a lower dose (30 mg/day) results in a greater increase in daily breast milk supply after 3 weeks’ treatment. Lisa Amir is the Principal Investigator at the Royal Women’s Hospital, where mothers of preterm infants born at less than 32 weeks’ gestation with lactation insufficiency are being invited to participate.

Research team: Lisa Amir, in collaboration with A/Prof Luke Grzeskowiak, Flinders University.  This project was funded by the NHMRC Project Grant.  Status : Recruitment commenced at The Women’s in 2023

BLOOM

Brewer’s yeast and beta-glucan are commonly consumed as galactagogues (substances claimed to increase milk supply), but high-quality evidence to support their use is lacking. BLOOM is a multicentre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial comparing the effect of brewer’s yeast, beta-glucan and placebo capsules on milk production after seven days. Lisa Amir is the Principal Investigator at the Royal Women’s Hospital, where mothers of preterm infants born at less than 34 weeks’ gestation are being invited to participate.

Research team: Lisa Amir, in collaboration with A/Prof Luke Grzeskowiak, Flinders University.  This project was funded by: Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation, South Australia; Leiber GmbH (Germany) has provided study medications.

Status: Recruitment commenced at The Women’s in 2023

This large in-depth study of first-time mothers revealed new knowledge about early breastfeeding problems

There is controversy about the condition known as ‘breast thrush’ or breast candidiasis in lactating women which has led to confusion among clinicians and the community. This is the first prospective longitudinal study to examine simultaneously both Staphylococcus aureus and Candida spp in breast infections and was designed to resolve the current controversy surrounding the primary organism responsible for the condition known as ‘breast thrush’: Candida spp or S aureus?

This project is a descriptive study of 360 breastfeeding women, recruited from the Royal Women’s Hospital and Frances Perry House. It also looked at maternal physical and mental health in the first eight weeks after giving birth.

Research team: Lisa Amir and Méabh Cullinane; in collaboration with Suzanne Garland and Sepehr Tabrizi, Bio21 Molecular Science & Biotechnology, University of Melbourne; Susan Donath, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Catherine Bennett, Deakin University

This research was supported by NHMRC Health Professional Research Fellowship 2006-2010 (LA); NHMRC Project Grant 2009-2010; NHMRC Equipment Grant 2009-2010; Helen Macpherson Smith grant 2011-2012.

The primary outcomes paper [external link] was published in BMJ Open in 2013. Key messages:

• Candida spp is associated with burning nipple pain and breast pain.
• Colonisation with S aureus is common; at least 50% of women were colonised with S aureus in nipple or milk samples by 4 weeks postpartum.

Nine papers have been published since and further publications are in preparation.

Find out more about this study on the CASTLE webpage