REcLINE "Relaxation Effects on Lactation levels in Neonatal Units"
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Feasibility Study Exploring the Relaxation Effects on Lactation Levels and Maternal Well-being in a Neonatal Unit
IRAS ID
205988
Contact name
Alison Brown
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Ayrshire & Arran
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 27 days
Research summary
A Feasibility Study Exploring the Effects of Relaxation on Lactation Outcomes and Maternal Well-being in a Neonatal Unit
Infants should be fed only breast milk from birth to six months (WHO, 2002). Infants admitted to a Neonatal Units, may not able to feed from the breast, so mothers express breast milk. When infants are in the neonatal unit, a mother’s choice to start and continue to provide breast milk can be difficult due to separation from baby, feeling obliged to provide milk and worrying that they will not provide enough milk. Mothers who want to provide milk, but who are unable to, are at a higher risk for developing depression. American research found that mothers who did audio relaxation produced more breast milk than mothers who did not. As far as the researchers are aware this has not been tried in the UK and the effectiveness of a relaxation aid has not been measured with maternal emotional wellbeing measures.
Participants will be mothers of babies admitted to the neonatal unit in the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, between August 2016 and May 2017, who are fluent in English and wish to express breast milk. Mothers will complete mood and stress measures at day 1, day 7 and day 14 of the study alongside giving access to recordings of milk expression quantities.
Mothers will either receive Treatment As Usual (TAU) or a relaxation intervention. The TAU group will be given the standard treatment, while the intervention group will have access to a British audio recording of a relaxation practice in addition. For 14 days a daily reminder text will be sent to mothers to use the relaxation intervention. Mothers will be contacted, 12 weeks later, by phone to enquire about their current method of feeding.REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
16/WS/0169
Date of REC Opinion
28 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion