Nutrition Education for Postpartum Women

Abstract

This pilot study examined the effectiveness of a 4-month clinic-based dietary intervention emphasizing the intake of deep yellow and dark green vegetables versus usual care on improving diet quality in postpartum women. The intervention group (n = 31) received 1 face-to-face nutrition education session with a registered dietitian, 2 follow-up phone calls, and 3 pamphlets distributed by mail. The usual care group (n = 25) received handouts with guidelines on healthy eating. Dietary outcomes were assessed from 3-day food recalls and evaluated using paired and independent t tests. Intervention women exhibited a significant increase in total vegetable intake (P < .001) and in dark green and deep yellow vegetables (P < .001). In comparison, the control group increased the intake of total vegetables (P < .001), but did not increase the consumption of dark green and deep yellow vegetables. When comparing the change in intake between study groups for both types of vegetables, the difference was not significant. Furthermore, 61% of the intervention women met the goals for total vegetable intake compared with 12% for the usual care group (P < .001). The intervention group also had a greater percentage of women (25.8%) that met the goal for deep yellow and dark green vegetable intake when compared with the usual care group (8%; P < .08). These results suggest that postpartum women are receptive to nutrition education and that nutrition education can influence vegetable intake.

A Theory-Based Dietary Intervention for Overweight, Postpartum Mothers and Their Children Improves Maternal Vegetable Intake

“…In addition, the improvement in vegetable consumption persisted up to 18 months, 6 months after the completion of the intervention. This increase in vegetable intake is consistent with the results from the preceding pilot study [15] and other previous studies.…”

“…Based on our preceding pilot study [15], we calculated a total of 120 mothers, with even allocation to treatment and control conditions, were required to provide 80% power to detect a difference in total target vegetable intake of 0.55 servings/day between the intervention and usual care groups at one year (twotailed alpha = 0.05). Out of the 914 participants assessed, 263 met the eligibility criteria ( Figure 1).…”

“…Women attending their 6-week postpartum follow-up visit at a large obstetrics clinic in the Cincinnati metropolitan area were screened for inclusion between March 2008 and April 2011. Inclusion criteria consisted of: BMI ≥ 25 with no co-morbidities; 21 -35 years of age; given birth to a singleton, full-term infant; a target vegetable intake (deep-yellow and dark-green vegetables) less than or equal to 1.5 servings/day (based on current vegetable intake from pilot data) [15]; full medical clearance from a physician to participate; no special diet prescribed; limited use of alcohol (one alcoholic drink/day); and no use of illegal drugs or tobacco. Mothers that did not meet those criteria were excluded for participation.…”

Maternal dietary intake and physical activity habits during the postpartum period: associations with clinician advice in a sample of Australian first time mothers

“…Overall, just less than half of the sample of women in this study reported having received any dietary advice by 3 months postpartum, despite women having been shown to be particularly receptive to dietary information during the postpartum period [ 63 ]. Women have been described as being an ideal population for receiving nutrition education (149) and in the U.S., for example, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Society for Nutrition recently recommended that women of reproductive age receive counselling on the importance of healthy eating including during the postpartum period [ 12 , 64 ]. It may be that a lack of formal guidelines in Australia addressing dietary advice for new mothers might in part explain why many women had not received such education by 3 months postpartum.…”

“…A diet adequate in fruit and vegetables and low in fat has been shown to play a vital role in reducing the risk for many diseases [ 8 , 9 ] and research has linked poor dietary habits with the development of non–communicable diseases including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and some cancers [ 10 , 11 ]. Specifically following childbirth, healthy eating is important to adequately support breastfeeding [ 12 ] and demonstrate healthy role modelling behaviours for infants [ 12 ]. However it is commonplace for women of all ages not to meet dietary intake recommendations [ 13 ].…”