Background and Objectives: Guidance around maternity care practices and infant feeding during the COVID-19 pandemic changed over time and was sometimes conflicting. Hospital maternity practices influence breastfeeding, an important preventive strategy against viral illness. Most birthing hospitals in Mississippi are enrolled in CHAMPS, a quality improvement initiative to support breastfeeding and continuously collect maternity care data. The aims of this study were to (1) assess changes to maternity care policies in response to COVID-19, and (2) compare hospital-level breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, and rooming-in rates, at cohort hospitals, before and during the pandemic, overall and stratified by race. Methods: Hospitals responded to a survey on maternity policies in May and September 2020 (Aim 1); hospitals submitted data on breastfeeding and maternity care practices before and during the pandemic (Aim 2). We tested for differences in survey responses using chi-squared statistics and performed an interrupted time series analysis on breastfeeding and maternity care practices data. Results: Twenty-six hospitals responded to the May and September 2020 surveys. Hospitals used different sources to create maternity care policies, and policies differed between institutions. Trends in rates of any and exclusive breastfeeding in the hospital cohort plateaued during the pandemic, in comparison to previous gains, and rates of skin-to-skin and hospital rooming-in decreased. No differences were evident between races. Conclusions: Policies (Aim 1) and practices in the quality improvement cohort hospitals were inconsistent during the COVID-19 pandemic, and changes measured to practices were detrimental (Aim 2). Ongoing monitoring is recommended.
Keywords: COVID-19; baby-friendly hospital initiative; breastfeeding; hospital; maternity care practices.