Effectiveness of Lactation Counselling and Breast Milk Stimulation Techniques on Relactation and Breastfeeding among Mother-Infant Dyads in a Selected Hospital, Puducherry – An Interventional study

Background: Breast milk has benefits of ensuring a healthy child and the survival of a child. Several studies reported that the initiation of breastfeeding within a day was significantly associated with reducing low birth weight related neonatal mortality and infection related neonatal mortality among all live births. Objectives: The main objectives to determine the effectiveness of lactation counselling and breast milk stimulation techniques on relactation among the mothers of the infants who stopped breastfeeding in Group I and Group II. Methods: The study was conducted in Rajiv Gandhi Government Women and Children Hospital (RGGW&CH), Puducherry, Union territory in the Indian continent. Puducherry among 216 Mother-Infant Dyads using simple random sampling technique who meets the inclusion criteria. Result: The comparison of weight of the baby between pretest and post-test in both groups. In both the groups, there was significant gain in the weight of the baby. The calculated ‘t’ value was highly significant at p<0.001. Conclusion: The level of knowledge of the mothers about relactation was moderately adequate. The study concluded that lactation counselling along with breast milk stimulation techniques is more effective in relactation than merely giving lactation counselling.