New mothers in the United States are receiving poor medical advice about infant care and breastfeeding from their physician, a survey released on Monday by the National Health Institutes suggests.
At least a thousand new moms from 32 hospitals across America were asked questions about where they receive guidance and information upon giving birth. These questions also covered breastfeeding, immunization, care for baby during sleep and use of pacifier, among others.
The women who joined in the survey were new moms with babies between two months to six months old.
At least 20 percent of the participants said they did not get any advice on breastfeeding from their doctors, nor were they taught how to properly let babies sleep on their backs to avoid sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Half of the new moms didn't know that sharing the same bed as an infant is unsafe practice. In the United States, about 3,500 cases of SIDS are reported yearly and it is one of the leading causes of infant deaths, according to the CDC.
"As a physician, these findings made me stop and really think about how we communicate important information to new patients," said pediatrician Dr. Staci R. Eisenberg of the Boston Medical Center and one of the researchers.
"From a public health perspective, there is a real opportunity to engage families and the media to promote infant health," she said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The study, however, revealed that when physicians do give their patients' some advice, it is usually consistent with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations. Only 10 to 15 percent received advice that were not in accordance with the guidelines set by the AAP.
The results of the survey also showed that first-time mothers and Hispanic and black mothers received more guidance from their doctors compared to white women or women with more than one child.
The findings were published in the journal Pediatrics.
