Dioxins

Breast milk survey

New Zealand’s Breast Milk Study - Investigation of Breast Milk for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
Fourth quarterly progress report (1 July 2007-30 September 2007)

Research nurses

Research nurses have been assigned for the South Island (Christchurch and North Canterbury) and the North Island (Wairarapa and Wellington).

Involvement of midwives

The participating midwives were re-visited and re-contacted by telephone. During the visit, many midwives mentioned that the study selection criteria are too difficult and they are too busy resulting in delays in recruiting mothers to participate. For this reason, other options were explored to contact potential participants.

Other options to contact mothers

Antenatal breast feeding classes
Contacts were established with teachers of antenatal breast feeding classes.
The research nurse attended antenatal breastfeeding classes to introduce the women to the study.

Postnatal ward
With assistance from a midwife educator, the research nurse visited the postnatal ward weekly to go through a list of all the first time mothers aged between 20 and 30 years. The research nurse then contacted their lead maternity carer to find out if they met the remaining study criteria and were interested in taking part in the study.

Asthma and allergy newborns study
The asthma and allergy newborns study currently being conducted at the Centre for Public Health Research also recruits new mothers, but the inclusion criteria are less stricter than the breast milk study. The research nurse will closely observe participants recruited to this study and invite those who meet the study criteria to participate in the breastmilk study.

The options above do not represent a radical change in conducting the breastmilk study. The midwives are still closely involved in the recruitment of mothers although they may not be the first point of contact between the research nurse and the mother participant. Also, none of the forms used for the study (invitation letter, information sheet, consent form), have been changed.

First visit mothers

Ten mothers have had their first visit and the research nurse explained the use of the collection bottles.

Second visit mothers

Six mothers have completed their breast milk collection and these samples were collected during the second visits of the research nurses.

Concluding remarks

Although there were some difficulties identified in recruiting study participants it is expected that the study will still meet its target date of completion in May 2008.

Page last updated: 23 November 2007