Effectiveness of breast massage on mild breast engorgement, breast milk ph and suckling speed of neonate among the postnatal mothers

Background: Postnatal mothers sometimes face breastfeeding problems such as breast engorgement and nipple pain due to excessive milk production, outflow obstruction or poor removal of milk by the baby which sometimes led to early weaning if not corrected. Aims of study: 1) To assess the level of breast engorgement among postnatal mothers. 2) To assess and compare mild breast engorgement, breast milk pH and neonate’s suckling speed before and after the administration of breast massage to postnatal mothers. Design and Setting: A pre-experimental study was conducted with one group pre-test post-test design. The study was conducted in postnatal ward of Hakeem Abdul Hameed Centenary Hospital, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. Sample and sampling: 30 postnatal mothers with their babies who had mild breast engorgement were selected using purposive sampling technique. Method: Structured interview schedule, Storr breast engorgement scale, numerical pain rating scale, digital pH meter, structured checklist on suckling speed and LATCH system were used to collect the data of mildly engorged postnatal mothers with their babies. Results: The findings revealed that there was significant difference between pre-test score and post-test score from day 1- 3 which was found to be statistically significant as evident for numerical pain rating scale ‘t’ value 19.7 at 0.05 level of significance, for breast milk pH ‘t’ value 7.67 at 0.05 level of significance and for suckling speed of neonate ‘t’ value 7.86 at 0.05 level of significance respectively. Both descriptive and inferential statistics was used for analysis and interpretation of data. Conclusion: The current study there was a significant improvement in breastfeeding techniques of postnatal mothers and their babies due to the reduction of breast engorgement after application of breast massage which was effective to relieve mild breast engorgement, breast pain, increase in breast milk pH and increase in the suckling speed of neonates of the postnatal mothers.