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Mary E. O'Connor, MD, MPH; Wendy Schmidt, OTR/L, MPA; Cindie Carroll-Pankhurst, PhD; Karen N. Olness, MD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1998;152:1065-1070.

Objective  To evaluate the hypothesis that breast-feeding women who participate in relaxation training will have increased secretory IgA (sIgA) levels in their breast milk compared with women not receiving training.

Design  Nonrandomized control trial of a convenience sample.

Setting  Women were recruited from the postpartum floor of a university teaching hospital. The intervention took place in the women's homes.

Participants  Women in the first 48 hours after delivery who were planning to breast-feed their healthy newborn infants for at least 8 weeks were approached for enrollment. Women were excluded if they had previous experience with relaxation training. At 4 to 6 weeks postpartum, we enrolled 38 women still breast-feeding their infants.

Interventions  Women were allocated into 3 groups. Women in group 1 were taught relaxation and had breast milk samples collected before and after the teaching. Women in group 2 had conversation with similar breast milk sample collection, and women in group 3 had 1 breast milk sample collected. Women in group 1 were encouraged to practice the relaxation once or twice a day for 2 weeks, and a second visit was made to all mothers with repeated breast milk collections. Women who were still breast-feeding at 6 to 8 weeks after study end had a final breast milk sample collected. Breast milk was analyzed for secretory IgA levels. Stress was assayed using the Symptom Checklist-90-R and open-ended questions.

Results  There was no difference in sIgA levels among the 3 groups at any time. Women who reported stress present between visit 1 and visit 2 increased their sIgA levels at the final sample collection (+0.16 g/L) compared with women who reported no stress (-0.09 g/L; P =.03). The ratings of success in relaxation in women in group 1 were related to the following sIgA levels in sample 4: poor relaxation, 0.67 g/L; fair relaxation, 0.41 g/L; good relaxation, 0.35 g/L; and very good, 0.30 g/L (P=.006).

Conclusions  Self-reported stress appears to increase breast milk sIgA levels. Success at relaxation was inversely related to sIgA levels in the group learning relaxation.

From the Department of Pediatrics (Drs O'Connor and Olness and Ms Schmidt) and the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences (Dr Carroll-Pankhurst), Case Western Reserve University, Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital (Drs O'Connor and Olness), Cleveland, Ohio.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Relaxation Training and Levels of Secretory IgA in Breast Milk
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Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1999;153:654-655.
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