Breastfeeding Support Group

Abstract

Breastfeeding provides numerous health benefits to women and their infants. Even with knowledge of the protective benefits of breast milk, there continues to be early breastfeeding discontinuation. The state and national breastfeeding rates fall below Healthy People 2030 goals. There are various reasons for breastfeeding cessation, including concerns about supply, low socioeconomic status, lack of maternal confidence, and inadequate social support. Social support for breastfeeding women has been shown to be one of the most critical factors influencing breastfeeding exclusivity and duration. Social media support groups are among the most frequently cited approaches in the literature for supporting breastfeeding mothers during the postpartum period. Social media support groups are easily accessible, allowing support to be provided to a larger group of individuals. This paper discusses the implementation of a Facebook breastfeeding support group with the aim of increasing breastfeeding duration for mothers in a rural community. This project demonstrated that providing breastfeeding support through Facebook improves breastfeeding duration.