Overview

This guideline examines the evidence and makes recommendations and remarks on the implementation of some of the details of breastfeeding counselling, such as frequency, timing, mode and provider of breastfeeding counselling, to improve breastfeeding practices. The objective of this guideline is to provide global, evidence-informed recommendations on breastfeeding counselling, as a public health intervention, to improve breastfeeding practices among pregnant women and mothers who intend to breastfeed, or are currently breastfeeding, and their infants and children.

Contents

• Publication History
• Acknowledgements
• Executive Summary
  • Purpose of the guideline
  • Guideline development methodology
  • Available evidence
  • Recommendations
  • Best practice statement
  • Remarks
  • Research gaps
  • Plans for updating the guideline
• Introduction
  • Objectives
  • Scope
  • Relevant WHO guidelines and tools
  • Population of interest
  • Priority questions
  • Outcomes of interest
  • Target audience
  • Presentation of the recommendations
  • Description of the interventions
• Evidence and Recommendations
  • Key question 1
  • Key question 2
  • Key question 3
  • Key question 4
  • Key question 5
  • Key question 6
• Implementation of the Guideline
  • Implementation considerations
  • Regulatory considerations
  • Ethical and equity considerations
  • Monitoring and evaluation of guideline implementation
• Research Gaps
• Guideline Development Process
  • WHO steering group
  • Guideline development group
  • Meeting observers
  • Systematic review team
  • Management of conflicts of interests
  • Identification of priority questions and outcomes
  • Evidence identification and retrieval
  • Quality assessment and grading of evidence
  • Formulation of recommendations
  • Decision-making during the guideline development group meeting
  • Document preparation and peer-review
• Dissemination and Plans for Updating
  • Dissemination
  • Plans for updating the guideline
• References
• ANNEX 1. Question in Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcomes (PICO) Format
• ANNEX 2. Grade Evidence Profile Tables
• ANNEX 3. Grade-Cerqual Summary of Qualitative Findings
• ANNEX 4. WHO Steering Group
• ANNEX 5. WHO Guideline Development Group
• ANNEX 6. Meeting Observers
• ANNEX 7. Systematic Review Team
• ANNEX 8. External Review Group
• ANNEX 9. WHO Secretariat

This publication is a World Health Organization (WHO) guideline. A WHO guideline is any document, whatever its title, containing WHO recommendations about health interven tions, whether they be clinical, public health or policy interventions. A standard guideline is produced in response to a request for guidance in relation to a change in practice, or controversy in a single clinical or policy area, and is not expected to cover the full scope of the condition or public health problem. A recommendation provides information about what policy-makers, health-care providers or patients should do. It implies a choice between different interventions that have an impact on health and that have ramifications for the use of resources. All publications containing WHO recommendations are approved by the WHO Guidelines Review Committee.

Suggested citation:

Guideline: counselling of women to improve breastfeeding practices. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

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