THERAPEUTIC TOUCH AND MILK LETDOWN IN MOTHERS OF NON-NURSING PRETERM INFANTS.
Contributors: New York University.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 194
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: In 1989, UNICEF and WHO launched a world-wide initiative to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. Although the mother of a preterm infant is capable of adequate milk production, she often experiences problems with milk letdown. It was proposed that TT could facilitate letdown since TT has been associated with an immediate relaxation and decrease in stress. The effects of TT were compared to two control treatments: Mimic Therapeutic Touch (MTT) and No Treatment (NT). The Science of Unitary Human Beings (Rogers, 1990) provided the theoretical foundation.

It was hypothesized that letdown would be greater, in the quantity and fat content of expressed milk, following TT than following MTT or NT.

The sample consisted of 18 caucasian, hispanic and black mothers (M = 31 years) expressing breast milk for their preterm infants (M = 3.7 lbs). Using a crossover design, the sample size of 18 provided the power of.80 to detect a medium effect size, with an alpha of.05 (Cohen & Cohen, 1983).

Mothers completed a breastfeeding diary and demographic and post-study questionnaires. Their perception of their infants' status was recorded prior to each treatment by a visual analogue scale. Mothers received, in a randomly assigned order, TT, MTT and NT immediately prior to expressing breast milk. A different treatment was received on 3 of 5 consecutive days. The length of TT was unprescribed (M = 11 min). The length of MTT (M = 10.7 min) was matched with the length of the previously administered TT.

The hypothesis was analyzed using a repeated measures, MANOVA with two dependent measures of letdown. Letdown was measured by the quantity of expressed milk and the fat content of the hindmilk sample (creamocrit method). There was no significant difference among the treatments in letdown $(p>.05).$.

In supplementary analyses, however, mothers expressed significantly more milk after TT than MTT or NT $(p<.05).$ More mothers experienced leaking of breast milk during TT than during MTT or NT $(p<.05).$ There was no significant difference among the treatments in the fat content of the hindmilk sample. Treatment order did not effect treatment outcome $(p>.05).$.

The discussion focused on physiological and theoretical interpretations of the findings. Suggestions for future research and practice were included.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-09, Section: B, page: 4602.

Thesis (PH.D.)--NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, 1993.

School code: 0146.