Family-Centred Breastfeeding Interventions to Improve Exclusive Breastfeeding: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Ziyang Xie, Xuanli Zhang, Yunyi Zhang and 1 others
PMID 42400223WHAT IT FOUND
Family breastfeeding support raised exclusive breastfeeding rates after birth.
Effects were seen when fathers or both parents were included, when interventions used theory, combined face-to-face and online formats, and spanned prenatal and postnatal care.
Key findings
01Family-based breastfeeding interventions increased exclusive breastfeeding rates at 1, 4 and 6 months postpartum (OR 3.18, 95% CI 1.39 to 7.31; OR 3.94, 95% CI 1.79 to 8.66; OR 2.93, 95% CI 1.90 to 4.50), with substantial heterogeneity at 1 and 4 months and moderate heterogeneity at 6 months.
02Interventions with a theoretical framework significantly improved exclusive breastfeeding within 2 months postpartum (OR 5.50, 95% CI 2.30 to 13.19), while interventions without a theoretical framework did not (OR 2.13, 95% CI 0.89 to 5.06).
03At 6 months postpartum, multiple intervention delivery formats significantly increased exclusive breastfeeding (OR 2.70, 95% CI 2.04 to 3.57), and interventions covering both prenatal and postnatal periods significantly increased exclusive breastfeeding (OR 4.84, 95% CI 2.50 to 9.40).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The included studies varied widely in participants, intervention content, timing, delivery format and outcome measures. Most had high or unclear risk of bias, especially for randomisation and blinding. There were few studies targeting grandparents, and no direct comparison of different family compositions. Follow-up was often short-term, and cultural and healthcare contexts differed. The review excluded non-English studies and studies without full text.
Declared interests
Funded by Shenzhen science and technology grants, a nursing special project at a maternal and child healthcare hospital, and a Sanming medical project; the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that every family breastfeeding programme works. The pooled positive result came from studies with high or unclear risk of bias and substantial heterogeneity, and some single-format or prenatal-only/postnatal-only groups did not reach statistical significance.