BOND: Direct Breastfeeding to Enhance Maternal and Infant Health in Congenital Heart Disease

Purpose

The primary objective of this study is to enhance the rates of direct breast feeding (DBF) among infants with congenital heart disease (CHD), and to gain insights into the implications of DBF on key metrics of child and parent well-being. A multicenter parallel cluster platform design will be employed. The intervention will be a multifaceted approach to enhance direct breastfeeding. Participating sites will be randomized into either intervention (strategies to enhance direct breastfeeding) or conventional care.

Condition

  • Congenital Heart Disease (CHD)

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  1. Pregnant individual carrying a fetus diagnosed with CHD or biological mother of an infant diagnosed with CHD in the neonatal period. 2. Fetus or newborn with CHD anticipated to require cardiac surgery or transcatheter intervention in the first 30 days of life. 3. Admission to the ICU (either CICU or NICU) at participating center in 1st week of life and for whom cardiac surgical or transcatheter intervention is anticipated in the first 30 days of life. 4. Willing to comply with protocol and provide written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

  1. Mother, fetal, or infant medical condition determined by a treating clinician to be contraindicative to study participation. 2. Mother with a severe, untreated psychiatric condition, substance use disorder, or other circumstances that, in the opinion of the investigator, would interfere with engagement with study tasks or safe participation in the trial. 3. Mother with a moderate to severe intellectual disability or is otherwise unable to provide informed consent. 4. Infant birthweight <3rd percentile for gestational age 5. Infant gestational age < 36 weeks 6. Infant with known genetic disorder likely to impact breastfeeding, such as trisomy 21 or cleft palate 7. Medical condition or congenital anomaly that precludes safe direct breastfeeding for the infant as determined by investigator

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Intervention Model Description
Participating sites will be randomized 1:1 between the intervention and control groups. Two randomization strata will be used: (1) center volume (higher vs. lower), and (2) current center breastfeeding rate in this population (higher vs. lower).
Primary Purpose
Prevention
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Breastfeeding clinical practice guideline (CPG)
The clinical practice guideline (CPG) intervention will be developed by the clinical centers randomized to this arm. The intervention plan will likely include: 1) prenatal counseling; 2) viewing a video on breastfeeding CHD infants; 3) individual counseling by a registered lactation consultant (RLC), 4) weekly personal contact in-hospital by the RLC, 5) frequent contact post discharge by the RLC through the first year or until breastfeeding is discontinued, 6) provision of high-quality breast pumps, 7) incentive to continue with pumping breastmilk or direct breastfeeding.
  • Other: Breastfeeding clinical practice guideline (CPG) for congenital heart disease (CHD)
    The clinical practice guideline (CPG) intervention will be developed by the clinical centers randomized to this arm. The intervention plan will likely include: 1) prenatal counseling; 2) viewing a video on breastfeeding CHD infants; 3) individual counseling by a registered lactation consultant (RLC), 4) weekly personal contact in-hospital by the RLC, 5) frequent contact post discharge by the RLC through the first year or until breastfeeding is discontinued, 6) provision of high-quality breast pumps, 7) incentive to continue with pumping breastmilk or direct breastfeeding.
No Intervention
Standard of Care
This arm will receive standard of care with respect to breastfeeding at the clinical centers randomized to this group.

Recruiting Locations

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia 30329
Contact:
Principal Investigator

University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Contact:
Principal Investigator

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, Ohio 45229
Contact:
Principal Investigator

Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina 29425
Contact:
Principal Investigator

Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
Memphis, Tennessee 38103
Contact:
Principal Investigator

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Carelon Research

Study Contact

Stephanie Lynch, MPH
339-368-9294
stephanie.lynch@carelon.com

Detailed Description

This is a domain of the Building Optimal Strategies to Enhance Parent and Infant Wellbeing in CHD (BOND) platform trail. BOND is a randomized, multifactorial, adaptive platform trial that seeks to optimize parent wellbeing and infant development following prenatal or neonatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD). The aim is to increase the proportion of infants with critical CHD who received direct breastfeeding at four months of age and to determine the impact of direct breastfeeding on maternal and infant health. Infants with congenital heart disease have lower rates of breastfeeding than the healthy population. Direct breastfeeding may be particularly beneficial in this population to reduce medical complications. In addition, direct breastfeeding may benefit maternal child bonding and enhance maternal mental health. Follow-up will continue through 12 months of infant age.