Breastfeeding support improves outcomes

Breastfeeding support increased the duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding. All forms of extra organised support analysed together showed an increase in the length of time women continued to breastfeed, either with or without introducing any other types of liquids or foods. This meant fewer women stopped any breastfeeding or exclusively breastfeeding (moderate quality evidence) before 4-6 weeks and before 6 months. Both trained volunteers and doctors and nurses had a positive impact on breastfeeding. Support was likely to be more effective in settings with high initiation rates. Factors that may have contributed to the success for women who exclusively breastfed were face-to-face contact (rather than contact by telephone), volunteer support, a specific schedule of 4–8 contacts and high numbers of women who began breastfeeding in the community or population (background rates).