Mother-Infant Breastfeeding Progress Tool: a guide for education and support of the breastfeeding dyad

OBJECTIVE: To describe the development of the Mother-Infant Breastfeeding Progress Tool to be used at the bedside by nurses to guide ongoing support and education for the mother-baby dyad. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Community hospital in a Midwestern city. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-two English-speaking mother-infant dyads. METHODS: Three nurse raters (two per session) independently scored the eight characteristics on the Mother-Infant Breastfeeding Progress Tool during 81 breastfeeding sessions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Percent agreement between raters and suggested modifications for the Mother-Infant Breastfeeding Progress Tool. RESULTS: The results support the use of the tool as a checklist for assessment of the breastfeeding mother-infant dyad to guide education and support. CONCLUSIONS: The interrater agreement was high for individual items of the Mother-Infant Breastfeeding Progress Tool. The Mother-Infant Breastfeeding Progress Tool is useful as a checklist for assessing maternal and infant breastfeeding progress, though additional research is needed to support the validity of the tool.