image of woman.

Dioxins

Breast milk survey

New Zealand’s Breast Milk Study - Investigation of Breast Milk for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

Sixth quarterly progress report (1 Janury 2008 - 31 March 2008)

Variation to agreement

Due to the difficulties in recruiting mothers for the study, an extension of the field work period was requested from the Ministry, and a Variation to Agreement was agreed. This Variation of Agreement specifies that the field work will be extended by six months, resulting in the following additional report due dates:

10 April 08	progress report due	period: 1 Jan.-31 March 08
10 July 08	progress report due	period: 1 April-30 June 08
10 October 08	progress report due	period: 1 July – 30 Sept 08
15 January 09	final report due

General progress

The continued recruitment of mothers by study nurses using the previously described additional ways to contact mothers. These include: attending antenatal classes; attending breast feeding classes; re-contacting midwives and other Lead Maternity Carers. In addition, effort was made to make the study known to a wider audience through local radio stations and news papers.

News articles in local newspapers

The following media were contacted: Christchurch press, Local Canterbury newspapers, Wairarapa Times, and the Wairarapa radio station.

The reason for the study was briefly explained in the news paper articles and radio items. Although this extra initiative did not result in direct recruitment of additional participants, the research team considered it as a good way to reach a wider audience, which in turn positively influenced the public’s enthusiasm to take part in the study. This applies for both the midwives and study participants.

First visit mothers

Twenty-four mothers have had the first visit of the research nurse. During this first visit, the use of the collection bottles was explained.

Second visit mothers

The following numbers of second visits have been completed:

Wellington	12 completed
Wairarapa	2 completed
Christchurch	4 completed
North Canterbury	2 completed

In total twenty mothers have completed breast milk collection and these twenty milk samples were collected during the second visits of the research nurses.

Page last updated: 12 May 2008