Assessing child care providers' knowledge and attitudes regarding support of breastfeeding in a region with low breastfeeding prevalence

Background: Working mothers who place their infants into out-of-home child care face many challenges to sustaining breastfeeding. Child care providers, who are in frequent close contact with young families, may be potential resources for promoting breastfeeding.

Objectives: This study focused on identifying child care providers' attitudes toward and knowledge about breastfeeding as well as providers' perceptions about strategies to increase breastfeeding rates among mothers of infants in child care centers.

Methods: Seventy-five providers from 11 child care centers in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area were surveyed using paper and pencil questionnaires. Self-reported demographics, attitudes, knowledge, and perceptions about breastfeeding were collected.

Results: Responses demonstrated a generally positive attitude toward breastfeeding among child care providers but a knowledge deficit in terms of the health impacts and proper handling of breast milk. A minority of providers reported that their center's staff currently receives breastfeeding education, but most providers believed that measures to promote the use of breast milk in their center should target parents rather than the center staff.

Conclusion: Child care providers need resources about the benefits of human milk, proper handling of expressed milk, and ways to make centers more breastfeeding friendly. Many providers feel ineffective in supporting breastfeeding and are unaware of the role they may play in mothers' infant feeding decisions. Though child care providers do not appear to believe they can influence parents' decisions about breastfeeding, educating and empowering them could play an important role in increasing breastfeeding rates.