ABA-feed infant feeding helpers (IFHs) offer women expecting their first baby, an antenatal meeting to discuss infant feeding, identify community assets and develop a friends and family diagram of infant feeding experiences. Postnatally, daily contact is offered for the first 2 weeks, followed by less frequent contact to 8 weeks.

CACH team: Jenny Ingram, Debbie Johnson, Denise Parker. Study led by Prof Kate Jolly in Birmingham; a collaboration between Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Stirling, Cardiff and Central Lancashire and funded by NIHR Public Health Research Programme.

The feasibility RCT recruited and randomised 103 first-time pregnant women to receive the ABA intervention, delivered by peer supporters, or usual care. The intervention was acceptable to both women and IFHs. The face-to-face antenatal visit was important to establish rapport and facilitate regular text-based communication in pregnancy and in the early weeks after birth.

We have secured funding from NIHR PHR programme to run a national RCT called ABA-feed. We aim to recruit 2730 women across 10-15 sites in the UK from September 2021 and train 135 existing peer supporters to be Infant Feeding Helpers. We will measure breastfeeding rates at 8-weeks after birth, maternal quality of life, anxiety, wellbeing and social support using questionnaires. Recruitment has been delayed by the COVID pandemic but we hope to complete the study sometime in 2024.

Publications

• Feasibility study results: 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mcn.12907

• Qualitative participant experiences: 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hex.13042

• Genogram paper: 

https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-020-03245-8