Objective: To describe the characteristics of postpartum people who did and did not enroll in a breastfeeding peer-counselor mobile health (mHealth) texting program as well as the issues raised through 2-way texting with peer counselors.
Design: Pilot intervention study involving two Special Supplemental Nutrition Programs for Women Infants and Children (WIC) sites in the District of Columbia over 1 year.
Sample: WIC recipients.
Measurements: Descriptive statistics, comparison of recipients who enrolled or not and qualitative content analysis of text messages.
Intervention: A breastfeeding peer counselor texting program entitled BfedDC involving routine 1-way programmed messages and 2-way texting capacity for recipients to engage with peer counselors.
Results: Among our sample (n = 1642), nearly 90% initiated breastfeeding. A total of 18.5% (n = 304) enrolled in the BfedDC texting program, of whom 19.7% (n = 60) utilized the 2-way texting feature. Message content covered seven content themes and included inquiries about expressing human milk, breastfeeding difficulties, breastfeeding frequency and duration, appointments and more.
Conclusions: Although enrollment was relatively low in BfedDC, benefits included 1-way supportive texts for breastfeeding and the ability to 2-way text with peer counselors. This program aligns with the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding and promotes breastfeeding equity in low-income people.
Keywords: District of Columbia; WIC; breastfeeding; mHealth; peer counselor; texting.
© 2024 The Authors. Public Health Nursing published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.