ABA-feed
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Assets-based feeding help Before and After birth (ABA-feed) for improving breastfeeding initiation and continuation
IRAS ID
288028
Contact name
Kate Jolly
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN17395671
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 1 months, 30 days
Research summary
Breastfeeding can improve health of mothers and babies, but fewer UK women breastfeed compared to other countries. Many women stop breastfeeding within the first two weeks; most would have liked more support to help them continue. Younger mothers and those from lower income homes are less likely to breastfeed.
The aim of the trial is to find out whether a ‘feeding helper’ service (ABA-feed) that supports women to feed their babies helps them to breastfeed for longer and whether it is good value for money.
We will invite women aged 16 years or over expecting their first baby who have given informed consent, 20+0 to 35+6 weeks gestation at 10-15 sites to take part, approaching them in antenatal/scanning clinics. 2730 women will be allocated by chance to either receive usual care for feeding or the additional ABA-feed service.
‘Feeding helpers’ will respect women’s feeding choices. They will help them identify friends/family who may help and will provide information about local groups, helplines and websites about infant feeding. They will provide a ‘listening ear’ when women have had their baby.
We will train existing peer supporters to become ‘feeding helpers’. They will contact women around 30 weeks of pregnancy and meet to talk about infant feeding; then keep in contact throughout pregnancy. After birth, the feeding helper will contact mothers daily for 2 weeks by text message or phone and refer those with particular difficulties to specialist feeding support. Women will be offered less frequent texts until their babies are 8 weeks old as participant preference.
At 3 days, 8, 16 and 24 weeks after birth, women will be sent a text/web link which asks how they are feeding their baby. We will compare breastfeeding rates at 8-weeks between women who did/did not receive support from feeding helpers. We will interview women, feeding helpers and health care professionals about their experience of the service.REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
21/ES/0045
Date of REC Opinion
18 May 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion