Research to Practice

Promoting optimal child and family health and development is one of HFNY's primary goals. Encouraging breastfeeding is one of the ways that HFNY works to achieve this goal, since breastfeeding is associated with many positive outcomes for both infants and mothers. We studied program data to examine how HFNY encourages breastfeeding and found that the number of home visits a family received and the percent of home visits in which breastfeeding was discussed were associated with a greater likelihood of a mother initiating breastfeeding and continuing to breastfeed for six months or more. Critically, we found that breastfeeding conversations work for those enrolled both prenatally and postnatally and that continuing to have breastfeeding conversations during the postnatal period is important for encouraging breastfeeding continuation. These results demonstrate the impact of home visitors' efforts and suggest that home visitors should try to have more conversations about breastfeeding with families when possible.