Effectiveness of Breast Massage on the Volume of Expressed Breast Milk among Mothers of Neonates Admitted in Nicu in Selected Hospitals, Mangaluru

Background Breast massage is widely used throughout the world as a treatment of breast feeding problem and also there are many techniques used for breast massage for improving the volume of breast milk. Method A quasi experimental interrupted time series design was adopted with sixty postnatal mothers whose babies were admitted to the NICU were selected using non-probability purposive sampling technique. Data was collected by using baseline proforma and breast milk volume diary. Results The result of the study showed that the mean breast milk volume at different time intervals separately for Experimental group (F=4.736, 8.462, 21.335) was significantly more than the table value (F critical value=3.1) at 0.05 level of significance. The mean amount of breast milk was compared between the cases and controls at different time interval. The “t” value (initial=1.356, day 1-1.439, 4.224, 6.084; day 2-2.789, 4.499, 7.140; day 3-2.679, 5.506, 9.031) was greater than table value (58=2.01). Association of demographic variables with the volume of expressed breast milk showed no significant association at 0.05 level of significance. Interpretation and conclusion The findings of the study proved that there was improvement in the volume of expressed breast milk due to breast massage. Breast massage can be used as an alternative method for improving the volume of expressed breast milk among post natal mothers. The main advantage is that breast massage is cheap and an easy method and has no side effects.