Effectiveness of peer counseling and membership in breastfeeding support groups in promoting optimal breastfeeding behaviors in the Philippines

Early initiation of breastfeeding, defined as breastfeeding within 1 h of birth, and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), defined as giving the infant breastmilk only, without supplementary food or water or medicines, during the first 6 months of life, are optimal breastfeeding behaviors that improve child health and survival [1‐5]. Early initiation of breastfeeding also stimulates the production of breastmilk, provides antibody protection, and reduces postpartum hemorrhage [6]. Further, it is linked with successful practice of other optimal breastfeeding behaviors, such as EBF for 6 months after birth, and continued breastfeeding for at least 2 years with complementary feeding after 6 months [5, 7, 8]. Longer duration of EBF significantly improves motor and cognitive development [9, 10], and prevents diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, and fever among infants. Exclusive breastfeeding also reduces the burden of undernutrition in the community [11]. In addition to the direct benefits of optimal breastfeeding behaviors on infants, breastfeeding also benefits mothers. In the short term, breastfeeding reduces maternal bleeding and stress after delivery, facilitates positive metabolic changes and postpartum weight loss, and delays ovulation. In the long term, breastfeeding increases postpartum weight loss, decreases visceral adiposity, and reduces risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and breast and ovarian cancers [12].

Despite the benefits of early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF, their prevalence is low in many countries, including the Philippines. The overall prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding was only 57.6%, in 24 countries included in the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Survey on Maternal and Perinatal Health in 2004 to 2008. The same survey also reported that the Philippines ranked among the lowest, with an early initiation of breastfeeding prevalence of only 39.9% [6]. Meanwhile, there has been little progress in improving the practice of exclusive breastfeeding. As of 2015, only 40% of children worldwide were exclusively breastfed [13]. The Philippine National Demographic and Health Surveys reported that the prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of life in the country was 54.0% in 2003 and 53.5% in 2008, while the prevalence of EBF, defined as the proportion of infants under 6 months of age who were given only breastmilk, were 33.5% and 34.0%, respectively [8]. However, the 2013 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey reported that the prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding in the country further decreased to 49.0% [14]. These figures are far from the targeted 90% prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding and the 70% prevalence of EBF under 6 months of age set by the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) by 2016 [8].

To help meet these targets and to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in the Philippines, the WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the World Food Program (WFP), in collaboration with the DOH, launched in 2009 the Millennium Development Goals - Fund 2030 Joint Programme (MDG-F JP) on Ensuring Food Security and Nutrition for Children 0–24 months old in the Philippines. The overall aim of the Programme was to accelerate the attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 1 and 4, which focused on reducing undernutrition among children and decreasing child mortality, respectively. Other key outcomes of the JP were increased prevalence of EBF by 20% annually, reduced prevalence of undernutrition by 3%, and improved capacities of national and local government units and stakeholders to formulate, promote, and implement IYCF policies and programs. To attain these outcomes, several intervention projects were implemented including the engagement and training of volunteer breastfeeding peer counselors and the establishment of breastfeeding support groups to encourage mothers to practice optimal breastfeeding during pregnancy and after childbirth. After the JP implementation, an external agency conducted a cross-sectional study between 2012 and 2013 to assess the outcomes and impact of the Programme. A 0.7% reduction in the prevalence of undernutrition and 7.7% increase in the prevalence of EBF were recorded after the implementation of the JP interventions; however, both figures were far from the JP targets. The same cross-sectional study also reported that the prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding was 62.8% [15, 16]. While an impact evaluation study has been conducted to assess the overall effectiveness of the JP, the effectiveness of component projects like the JP-trained peer counselors and the breastfeeding support groups in promoting early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF among target mothers is unknown.

Previous studies showed that the determinants of early initiation of breastfeeding include knowledge about optimal feeding practices [17, 18], mother’s age [17, 19, 20], mother’s and partner’s employment status [21‐23], and exposure to breastfeeding information during pregnancy [17, 24]. Other factors associated with early initiation of breastfeeding are place of delivery, birth attendant, mode of delivery [18, 20, 23], and knowledge about breastfeeding [18, 25]. A previous study in the Philippines reported that after adjusting for confounding variables, first breastfeed in infants from mistimed pregnancies was much later than infants from planned pregnancies among households with low socioeconomic status [26]. A systematic review on the topic confirmed the role of the aforementioned determinants on early initiation of breastfeeding. Other factors such as place of residence, educational attainment of the parents, socio-economic status, and infant’s sex were reported to be important determinants as well [27, 28]. The determinants of EBF, on the other hand, include mother’s marital status, mode of delivery [29, 30], economic independence, maternal age, number of children, socio-economic status, maternal HIV status, and birthweight of infant [31, 32]. Having antenatal care, maternal education, and maternal employment were associated with lower odds of exclusive breastfeeding [32]. The same set of variables was also found to be associated with EBF in two systematic reviews, in addition to place of residence, religion, rooming-in, pre-lacteal feeding, advice from relatives and peer-pressure, infant’s sex, maternal smoking, and exposure to advertisements about breast milk substitutes [27, 33].

Although some studies on the determinants of early initiation of breastfeeding and breastfeeding duration have been conducted in the Philippines [26, 34], this is the first study, in our knowledge, to explore the effectiveness of specific interventions to promote early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF in the country. This paper’s aim was to examine the independent association of peer counseling and membership in breastfeeding support groups in promoting early initiation of breastfeeding within an hour of birth and EBF at 6 months in the six JP sites. In addition, we explored whether there was an interaction (or synergy) between peer counseling and membership in breastfeeding support groups to assess their joint effects on levels of early initiation of breastfeeding within an hour of birth and EBF at 6 months.

A total of 2542 parent-infant dyads were interviewed in the Endline Survey, giving a 98.4% response. Of these, only 2343 (93.1%) of the households had mothers who served as infant caregiver and were thus included in the analyses. Majority (77.6%) of the mothers were from urban areas. The mothers were between 15 and 50 years old, and most were married or living with their partners (92.2%). Most (92.3%) mothers were employed. During their index pregnancy, some of them (23.5%) were visited by a peer counselor and/or were reported as members of a breastfeeding support group (33.4%). When they gave birth to the index child, most of them (67.0%) delivered in health facilities and were attended by skilled professional birth attendants (75.4%). Some of them (28.5%) were also visited by peer counselors after delivery. Lastly, only 63.1% of mothers have initiated breastfeeding within an hour of birth. Out of the 2343 households who had mothers who served as the infant caregiver, 1865 (79.9%) were aged 6 months old or older. Out of this, only 34.7% had exclusively breastfed their children for 6 months (Table 1).

The distribution of the mothers’ age of gestation at their first prenatal checkup was right-skewed as most mothers had their first visit during the first 3 months of pregnancy (median = 3). The knowledge scores of the respondents ranged from 0 to 7 and these scores were left-skewed in distribution as most mothers had scores of 5 or higher (median = 6). The number of living older siblings of the infants in the study ranged from 0 to 13. The distribution of this variable was right-skewed as the infants generally had few older siblings (median = 1). The household size of the respondents ranged from 2 to 25 members. This variable was also right-skewed, as the respondents lived in relatively smaller households (median = 6).

Our secondary analysis of the Endline Survey data of the JP reveals that 63% of mothers breastfed within an hour of birth, and only 35% exclusively breastfed at 6 months, which are both below the DOH targets of 90% prevalence for early initiation of breastfeeding and 70% prevalence for EBF. While there is no strong evidence that visits by a peer counselor during pregnancy and after delivery are associated with early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF, there is strong evidence that membership in breastfeeding support groups is positively associated with both early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF. One possible explanation of why membership in breastfeeding support groups was effective in promoting both early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF, while peer counselors only had marginal effectiveness, may be the active knowledge transfer during breastfeeding support group sessions compared to the relatively passive one-on-one lectures in peer counseling sessions. Our secondary analysis did not detect possible synergy (i.e., statistical interaction) between peer counselor visits and membership in breastfeeding support groups, and early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF at 6 months. In other words, the effect of these two specific JP interventions on early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF are probably independent of each other.

Home visits by a peer counselor are designed to encourage mothers to get adequate prenatal care and to advocate for them, and promote the positive effects of early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF. The mothers were also coached by these peer counselors to continue breastfeeding exclusively up to 6 months after birth, to introduce quality complementary food only after 6 months, and to breastfeed beyond 2 years. Breastfeeding support groups, on the other hand, were organized in the communities to promote proper IYCF practices among the mothers with infants and children less than 2 years old. These support groups were supposed to encourage and support the mothers so they can initiate breastfeeding early and continue breastfeeding their infants exclusively until the baby is 6 months old. Together with proper complementary feeding, members of the support groups motivate each other to continue breastfeeding the babies up to 2 years and beyond, if possible, to maximize the positive effects of mothers’ milk on young children.

The importance of family- or community-based interventions to improve neonatal and child health cannot be overemphasized. There is evidence that community-based interventions can reduce all-cause neonatal mortality by 10–50% [39]. However, studies assessing the effectiveness of these interventions are few and the findings are contradictory [40, 41]. There are also reviews on community-based interventions, optimal feeding practices, and child health. A Cochrane review reported that there is no strong evidence to conclude that non-healthcare professional-led interventions, which include support groups and peer counselors, affect early initiation of breastfeeding among target mothers [42]. Another review identified the following gaps in operations research for community-based interventions to promote child health: [a] how health workers, including non-healthcare professionals, could most effectively deliver the needed services for newborns and children at the community; [b] the scope of service of community health workers; [c] ways to link community health workers with referral facilities to provide care for mothers and children; and [d] how community-based interventions can be managed sustainably [43]. A third review reported that interventions conducted by lay people, especially those providing emotional support and counseling, including services that are given during pregnancy and continued postpartum, are associated with greater odds of EBF. The review concluded that effective interventions to promote EBF should have multiple components, have a clear training protocol to engage both professionals and non-professionals healthcare providers, and have continuity of service between the health facility and the community [44]. The fact that these studies have different results and recommendations could be probably explained by differences in the interventions, the target populations, and the study methods employed.

Our study has a number of important limitations. First, the exact nature of the engagement of peer counselors with the target mothers was not clearly defined and this may explain the lack of association seen between peer counselor visits and early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF. Notably, a fifth of the peer counselors mentioned that they have little or no knowledge on their roles and activities, while another one-third felt that they have inadequate knowledge on what to do if a child is sick [15]. Second, while breastfeeding support groups enjoyed greater acceptance than one-on-one visits by peer counselors, there were also some issues including implementation delays, issues in training and engagement, and the non-mandatory participation of the members. Third, the sample size used in the analyses may have been insufficient for tests of statistical interactions [45]. This partly explains the absence of a statistically significant effect of the hypothesized synergy between the JP interventions that we studied on both early initiation of breastfeeding or EBF at 6 months. Fourth, in assessing the effectiveness of community interventions, a cluster randomized trial would be the more appropriate design to use [46]. However, since the main objective of the JP was to decrease the prevalence of undernutrition and improve the prevalence of optimal breastfeeding practices, and not to assess the effectiveness of interventions, a before-and-after evaluation design with two separate cross-sectional studies was used instead given the available resources. As a result, the issue of reverse causality, which is inherent in cross-sectional studies, may affect the internal validity of our analysis [47]. Fifth, differences in the extent of missing outcome data for our different exposure variables could point to possible selection bias: [a] percent of missing early initiation of breastfeeding data is higher among those who were not visited by a peer counselor during prenatal period compared to those who were visited; [b] percent of missing EBF data is higher among members of breastfeeding support groups than those who were not; and [c] percent of those with missing EBF data is higher among those who were visited by a peer counselor after delivery compared to those who were not visited. Sixth, our study may also suffer from information bias since we utilized self-reported data. The findings of our study are, therefore, only as good as the reports of the mothers who took part in the study. Mothers of relatively older infants may be less likely to provide accurate recall as compared to mothers of younger infants and/or newborns [48]. Our study may also have residual confounding because important correlates of the outcome such as educational status of the mother and opinion of other family members were not collected [28]. Lastly, the Endline Survey did not have data on the number of visits of peer counselors, as well as the number of sessions held by the breastfeeding support groups, which prevented us from characterizing the nature of mother-peer counselor dynamics. This information gap also prevented us from exploring possible dose-response relationships between the JP interventions and the outcome variables. Despite this, we controlled for the effect of other important confounders like mode of delivery, maternal age, number of living older siblings, place of delivery and birth attendant.

Our findings suggest that early initiation of breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth and EBF at 6 months in the country do not meet national targets. We also found that there is insufficient evidence that peer counseling during pregnancy and after delivery are associated with early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF, but that there is strong evidence that membership in breastfeeding support groups is positively associated with both early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF at 6 months. Adopting good training designs for community volunteers and conducting regular sessions may make breastfeeding support groups more effective in improving early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF practices. While the role of peer counselors in promoting early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF remains unclear, they may still have a significant role to play in promoting both. We recommend that peer counselors should have clear messages to deliver to target mothers to promote early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and to discuss the importance of prenatal care [49]. Although trained healthcare professionals like midwives and nurses were reported to be more effective in promoting breastfeeding among target mothers, there are not enough of them to do this [42, 44]. This is one area where lay community health workers like breastfeeding counselors can be tapped to carry out some of these functions. Setting performance targets coupled with close supervision, salaries, or incentives are necessary to institutionalize grassroots-level interventions to promote any community-based intervention including optimal breastfeeding practices. These interventions should be supported by the government at all levels through financing, partnerships between local and external stakeholders, and logistical support at all levels to further ensure effective and efficient implementation [50].

Our suggestion to integrate non-healthcare professionals in efforts to promote early initiation of breastfeeding and EBF could be tested further in future intervention studies. Operations research can address various information gaps on child health which could be addressed by doing community trials [51]. This has been emphasized by one Cochrane review which concluded that current evidence on the effectiveness of non-healthcare professional-led interventions on early initiation of breastfeeding are few and of poor quality [42]. Thus, methodologically sound studies to assess the effectiveness of peer counselors and/or support groups in promoting optimal breastfeeding behaviors are still needed. The need for more research on this topic to influence policies and programs is demonstrated by the low prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding worldwide, including the Philippines.