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Calls to an inner-city hospital breastfeeding telephone support line.

Chamberlain LB, Merewood A, Malone KL, Cimo S, Philipp BL

The Breastfeeding Center, Boston Medical Center, 850 Harrison Avenue, YACC-5, Boston, MA 02118, USA.

Support for breastfeeding mothers after they leave the hospital is often inadequate in low-income, inner-city areas where few resources are available. In becoming a Baby-Friendly Hospital, inner-city Boston Medical Center established a breastfeeding telephone support line to overcome this discrepancy. Records of support line calls for the first 5 years of operation were reviewed to record the level of need and determine reasons for use. A total of 1959 calls for 2482 reasons were received between January 1999 and December 2003. The most common reason for calling was "need help obtaining a breast pump" or "need information about breast pumps" (44%; 1096/2482), followed by "breast issue" (7%; 181/2482) and "milk supply question" (7%; 167/2482). The results indicate that inner-city women seek breastfeeding support and demonstrate a substantial need for breast pumps. These findings suggest that the lack of breast pumps may be a barrier to continued breastfeeding for inner-city breastfeeding women.

Published 31 January 2005 in J Hum Lact, 21(1): 53-8.
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