Investigating Hormones Triggering the onset of sustained lactation
We are now recruiting women who intend to breastfeed their baby to participate in the INSIGHT Study.
Hormones such as prolactin and progesterone play a major role in the breastfeeding process and trigger the onset of milk production within the first few days after childbirth. However, the hormone levels required to stimulate milk production are unknown.
This study will help us understand why some breastfeeding mothers have delayed milk production or produce limited quantities of milk.
Thanks to the enthusiasm and generosity of the mums we meet we reached the exciting milestone of recruiting our 100th participant in August! We are increasingly able to obtain sufficient amounts of these precious samples for analysis and are eagerly looking forward to seeing the data generated, as well as recruiting more participants over the coming months.
Read our latest Study Update to hear from a few of our participants.
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Contact us to get involved
We are looking to recruit mothers to this pilot study who are willing to provide a blood sample before and after a breastfeed on the 4th day following childbirth. We would also like to know when your milk ‘comes in’ and collect a small sample of breast milk.
A maternity healthcare professional will come to collect samples and can also provide breastfeeding support such as assessing a breastfeed and providing advice on infant attachment and feeding, during the study visit. Please view the Participant Information Sheet for further details.
If you are interested in taking part, you can use our contact form or email ocehl@wrh.ox.ac.uk
Ethical Approval: East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee; 20/EE/0172
INSIGHT Explained…
Read our study updates: Autumn 2022 & May 2022.
For the full background to the study design read the INSIGHT Study Protocol published in BMJ Open.
Listen to this conversation with Helen, LRF OCEHL's first Research Midwife who helped set up INSIGHT. She explains why asking mums to donate samples just after giving birth will provide new and important information.
Click on either of the images to open a pdf version of the study leaflet.