Inventory of Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) for Healthy Start Programs

Evidence-based practices include actions, activities, strategies, or approaches that improve the health of women, before, during, and after pregnancy in order to improve birth outcomes and give infants up to age two years a healthy start. Also included in the collection are informational materials and tools that make it easier to implement evidence-based practices. To search by title, use the main search box located at the top of this page.

You searched for: Breastfeeding

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ACOG Postpartum Toolkit

Often referred to as “The Fourth Trimester,” the weeks after birth are a critical time for a woman and her infant, setting the stage for long-term health and well-being. This comprehensive toolkit, with an introduction by Dr. Haywood Brown, includes extensive resources on the key components of postpartum care, including support for new mothers, reproductive life planning, infant care, counseling for substance use, long-term weight management, and many more pertinent topics. It also features a sample postpartum checklist for women to complete.

Topics:

Alcohol/Drug Services Breastfeeding Chronic Disease Depression Healthy Weight Immunization Intimate Partner Violence Reproductive Life Planning/Family Planning Safe Sleep Tobacco Cessation

Approaches:

Improve Women's Health Promote Quality Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Intimate Partner Violence Perinatal Depression Follow Up Perinatal Depression Screening Postpartum Visit Reproductive Life Plan Safe Sleep Smoking Abstinence Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

ACOG Committee Opinion on Optimizing Postpartum Care

Because one half of all pregnancy-related maternal deaths occur postpartum, the weeks following childbirth are a critical period for a woman and her infant. In addition, health issues that arise in pregnancy can persist and presage long-term medical problems. In this Committee Opinion, ACOG lays out a new vision for postpartum care, redefining it as an ongoing process beginning within the first 3 weeks postpartum and tailored to a woman’s needs. The document includes practical advice on postpartum care as well as useful charts including a Timeline for Postpartum Care, a listing of The Components of Postpartum Care, and a table identifying Members of the Postpartum Care Team.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Chronic Disease Depression Reproductive Life Planning/Family Planning

Approaches:

Improve Women's Health Promote Quality Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Birth Spacing Initiating Breastfeeding Perinatal Depression Follow Up Perinatal Depression Screening Postpartum Visit Reproductive Life Plan Sustaining Breastfeeding Well Woman Visits

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Building on Campaigns with Conversations: An Individualized Approach to Helping Families Embrace Safe Sleep & Breastfeeding

This series of learning modules is designed for a range of health professionals, human service providers, community health workers, home visitors, and peer supporters who interact with families on topics of safe sleep and breastfeeding. The modules are designed to help users understand the Conversations Approach and gain the knowledge and skills needed to implement it to promote breastfeeding and safe sleep practices. Modules cover: A New Approach, How Babies Sleep and Eat, Understanding Current Recommendations, Anticipating Reluctance and Refusal, Respectful Dialogue and Structure of a Conversation,Creating Plans to Support Family Decisions, and Putting It All Together to Make a Difference.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Parenting Education Safe Sleep

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Safe Sleep Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

WHO Guidelines for Identification and Management of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorders in Pregnancy

This 244-page publication contains detailed guidelines and recommendations on the identification and management of women who are pregnant or postpartum and use alcohol or drugs or have a substance use disorder. It includes extensive information on screening and brief interventions, psychosocial interventions, detoxification and quitting programs, pharmacological treatment, breastfeeding and maternal substance use, and management of infants exposed to alcohol and other psychoactive substances. The document also features a comprehensive review of the evidence behind the recommendations.

Topics:

Alcohol/Drug Services Breastfeeding Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment

Approaches:

Benchmarks:

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Moms2B

Moms2B provides weekly education and support sessions for expectant mothers to promote healthy lifestyle choices and link women with support services. Topics covered include: breastfeeding, child development, family planning, goal setting, prenatal labor and delivery, maternal-infant health, positive parenting, reproductive health, and safe sleep. Moms2B is provided free of charge, with transportation assistance, on-site childcare and a hot, healthy meal. Ohio State University and community social service organizations support Moms2B participants with ongoing access to healthcare providers, lactation counselors, social workers, parenting educators and community health workers. The Moms2B program is based on an evidence-based pilot curriculum shown to increase breastfeeding and improve infant health.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Nutrition Parenting Education Prenatal Care and Education Reproductive Life Planning/Family Planning Safe Sleep

Approaches:

Improve Women's Health Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Reproductive Life Plan Safe Sleep

Evidence Rating: II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.

Guidelines for Identification and Management of Lead Exposure in Pregnant and Lactating Women

This is a comprehensive source of information on the risks of exposure to lead during pregnancy and lactation. It contains detailed information on sources of lead exposure in adults, and known risks of lead on the mother, developing fetus, and infant. Sample screening tools for assessing possible exposure, and information on management of women found to have elevated lead levels are also included.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment

Approaches:

Benchmarks:

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Family Spirit

Family Spirit is an evidence-based early childhood home-visiting program designed for and by American Indian communities. Family Spirit combines the use of paraprofessionals from the community as home visitors and a culturally focused, strengths-based curriculum as a core strategy to support young families. From pregnancy through the child’s 3rd birthday, parents gain knowledge and skills to promote healthy development and positive lifestyles for themselves and their children. Family Spirit addresses intergenerational behavioral health problems, optimizes local cultural assets, and overcomes deficits in the professional health care workforce in low resource communities. Evidence from three randomized controlled trials has documented important results including: increased parenting knowledge and involvement; decreased maternal depression; increased home safety; decreased emotional and behavioral problems of mothers; and decreased emotional and behavioral problems of children. The Family Spirit curriculum modules cover: Prenatal Care, Infant Care, Your Growing Child, Toddler Care, My Family and Me, and Healthy Living.

Topics:

Alcohol/Drug Services Breastfeeding Depression Home Visiting Parenting Education Partner Involvement Prenatal Care and Education Reproductive Life Planning/Family Planning Socio-emotional Development for Children

Approaches:

Improve Women's Health Promote Quality Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Father/Partner Prenatal Involvement Initiating Breastfeeding Perinatal Depression Follow Up Perinatal Depression Screening Reproductive Life Plan Safe Sleep Smoking Abstinence Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: I. Evidence-based practices—have been rigorously evaluated and shown to be effective by MCH experts.

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding

For nearly all infants, breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition and immunologic protection, and it provides remarkable health benefits to mothers as well. Many mothers in the United States want to breastfeed, and most try. Yet within only three months after giving birth, more than two thirds of breastfeeding mothers have already begun using formula. By six months postpartum, more than half of mothers have given up on breastfeeding. This Call to Action describes specific steps people can take to participate in a society-wide approach to support mothers and babies who are breastfeeding. It provides recommendations for women and families, communities, health care providers, employers, public health agencies, and researchers.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Prenatal Care and Education

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

MothertoBaby

MothertoBaby is the leading authority providing up-to-date, evidence-based information to mothers, healthcare professionals, and the general public regarding the effects of medications and other exposures on pregnancy and breastfeeding. The website contains fact sheets in English and Spanish covering the risks of over 50 pharmaceuticals (listed alphabetically), herbal products, and other common lifestyle and occupational exposures. Excellent sections on tobacco, alcohol, and mood-altering drugs are included, as well as information on the safety of vaccines during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Experts are also available to answer individual questions confidentially by telephone, email, or text.

Topics:

Alcohol/Drug Services Breastfeeding Immunization Prenatal Care and Education Risk Assessment Tobacco Cessation

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Smoking Abstinence

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

New Benefits for Breastfeeding Moms: Facts and Tools to Understand Your Coverage under the Health Care Law

This toolkit is designed for women, advocates, community-based organizations, and health care providers to provide information on the coverage of breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling in the health care law (Affordable Care Act) and offer tools to women who encounter problems with this coverage. The toolkit also includes detailed instructions on how to call insurance companies, how to file an appeal if the plan denies coverage, and provides draft appeal letters tailored to commonly encountered scenarios.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Insurance Coverage

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Community-Based Doula Programs

The Community-Based Doula Program connects underserved pregnant women to other women in their communities who are specially trained as doulas to provide support during the critical times of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum/early parenting. The program is based on the power of peer-to-peer support. Because doulas are of and from the same community as their clients, they are able to understand language and cultural needs and create long-term links to support networks. Women in the program have been shown to have higher breastfeeding rates, lower C-section rates, and more positive mother-infant interaction. HealthConnect One can assist in developing these programs.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Parenting Education Prenatal Care and Education

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.

The Tampa Bay Doula Program

This Doula Program, targeted to low income pregnant women, provides free perinatal services, including community-based childbirth education classes, labor and delivery support, postpartum care, and instruction focusing on mom/baby attachment, extension of breastfeeding duration, and interconception care. Participants in the program have been shown to have a decreased infant mortality rate, reduced need for medical interventions during labor and delivery, and longer duration of breastfeeding their infants.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Other Prenatal Care and Education Reproductive Life Planning/Family Planning

Approaches:

Improve Women's Health Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Birth Spacing Initiating Breastfeeding Reproductive Life Plan Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: I. Evidence-based practices—have been rigorously evaluated and shown to be effective by MCH experts.

The CDC Guide to Breastfeeding Interventions

Guide to breastfeeding interventions that have been reviewed by the Cochrane Collaboration and published through the Cochrane Library, a comprehensive collection of up-to-date information on the effects of health care interventions.

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

The CDC Guide to Strategies to Support Breastfeeding Mothers and Babies

This document provides guidance for public health professionals and others on how to select strategies to support breastfeeding mothers and increase breastfeeding rates. It offers the most relevant information on each type of strategy. Includes information that may be important to keep in mind during the planning, implementation, or evaluation phases of a strategy. Identifies specific activities for each strategy that public health professionals can take to implement strategies in specific settings, including communities, schools, child care facilities, work sites, and medical care facilities. Includes examples of programs that use the strategy as a way to support and increase breastfeeding.

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Touchpoints

The Touchpoints approach offers healthcare providers and early education professionals a framework to build better partnerships with families around mutual strengths-based caregiving and parent engagement, all of which benefit child outcomes. Rooted in child social, emotional and behavioral development, Touchpoints seeks to improve parent-provider relationships, improve provider relationships with each other, enhance parent-infant relationships, moderate parental stress, normalize parent’s perceptions of their child’s behavior, increase well-child care adherence, improve infant developmental outcomes, improve maternal mental health indicators, and encourage longer breastfeeding. A variety of professional tools, training activities and learning communities are offered for providers.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Other Parenting Education Socio-emotional Development for Children

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding

The Ten Steps are the broad framework that guide the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. They were developed by a team of global experts and consist of evidence-based practices that have been shown to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration. Baby-Friendly® hospitals and birthing facilities must adhere to the Ten Steps to receive, and retain, a Baby-Friendly designation. This webpage lists the Ten Steps and the endorsing organizations and links to supporting resources for both hospitals and parents.

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Implementing the Joint Commission Perinatal Care Core Measure on Exclusive Breast Milk Feeding

This toolkit provides information on implementing the Perinatal Core Measure of exclusive breast milk feeding in a healthcare setting. The toolkit provides guidance on data collection and adherence to best practices.

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Colorado Can Do 5! Initiative

Colorado-based initiative that provides informational sessions to state hospitals and medical centers on 5 Baby-Friendly steps associated with breastfeeding duration. 51 of 55 hospitals in Colorado have received training. Included in the CDC’s list of evidence based strategies to support breastfeeding.

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.

Best Fed Beginnings

Nationwide quality improvement initiative to help hospitals improve maternity care and increase the number of “Baby-friendly” designated hospitals in the US. Administered by NICHQ with the CDC and Baby-Friendly USA. Recruited 89 hospitals to participate in a 22 month learning collaborative. Hospitals use quality improvement methods to learn how to make system level changes to maternity care practices in order to be designated “baby friendly.”

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative outlines 10 steps that support the initiation of breastfeeding. The 10 Steps consist of evidence-based practices that have been proven to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration. Hospitals that have become Baby-Friendly have breastfeeding rates well above the national average. Endorsed and promoted by all major maternal and child health authorities, including CDC.

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Loving Support Through Peer Counseling: A Journey Together

Developed by USDA to use the WIC Loving Support promotional campaign in a peer counseling setting. Peer counselors receive training on how to support prenatal and breastfeeding mothers in WIC programs at home over the telephone. Peer counselors may provide clinic-based counseling, make post-partum visits, lead prenatal breastfeeding classes and postpartum support groups, and/or provide one-on-one support in the hospital setting.

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: I. Evidence-based practices—have been rigorously evaluated and shown to be effective by MCH experts.

Loving Support To Glow and Grow in WIC

Staff training materials to train WIC staff in the skills required to promote and support breastfeeding in the WIC setting. Addresses adult learning strategies and core breastfeeding competencies for staff. Evidence based and informed by focus groups and interviews. Includes a CD of training materials, and video trainings available on DVD.

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

HUG Your Baby (Help, Understanding, Guidance for Young Families)

Uses child development principles to boost parent confidence, facilitate parent-child bonding, and promote breastfeeding duration. HUG has been implemented in many countries and can been integrated into nursing programs, hospitals, home visitation programs, prenatal clinics, etc. Materials include DVDs, e-newsletters, blogs, music video songs, social media, posters, and online courses. Also includes The Roadmap to Breastfeeding Success, an additional lactation online course that integrates best practices in lactation support with child development theory.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Parenting Education

Approaches:

Promote Quality Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Father/Partner Parenting Involvement Father/Partner Prenatal Involvement Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: II. Promising practices—Innovative practices employed in the field, based on state-of-science knowledge about what works to improve outcomes, and gathering evidence of effectiveness.

Fathers Supporting Breastfeeding

The Fathers Supporting Breastfeeding program was created by the USDA and uses a video, poster, and brochures to reach African American fathers, so that they may positively influence their partners’ decision to breastfeed. The campaign is part of national efforts to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates among African American women. Project materials can also be used with men in other racial and ethnic groups.

Topics:

Breastfeeding

Approaches:

Promote Quality Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Father/Partner Parenting Involvement Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.

Topics:

Breastfeeding Nutrition

Approaches:

Improve Women's Health Promote Quality

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Sustaining Breastfeeding Well Child Visits Well Woman Visits

Evidence Rating: III. Expert guidelines—Protocols, standards of practice, or recommendations based on expert consensus.

Text4Baby

Text4baby is a free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health through text messaging. Lasts through pregnancy until baby’s first birthday. The messages address topics such as prenatal care, labor signs and symptoms, urgent alerts, breastfeeding, nutrition, exercise, oral health, immunizations, birth defect prevention, developmental milestones, safe sleep, family violence, injury prevention, mental health, substance abuse, car seat safety, and more.

Topics:

Alcohol/Drug Services Breastfeeding Depression Intimate Partner Violence Nutrition Parenting Education Safe Sleep

Approaches:

Promote Quality Strengthen Family Resilience

Benchmarks:

Initiating Breastfeeding Intimate Partner Violence Perinatal Depression Follow Up Safe Sleep Sustaining Breastfeeding

Evidence Rating: I. Evidence-based practices—have been rigorously evaluated and shown to be effective by MCH experts.