We suggest that the Bristol Breastfeeding Assessment Tool
could be used generally by those observing breast feeding to
enable an accurate, rapid appraisal, and help to target breast
feeding advice to those mothers acquiring early breast feeding
skills or for those experiencing problems with an older infant.
Accurate assessment is essential to ensure breast feeding effi-
ciency is enhanced, and mother's self-confidence and exclusive
breast feeding duration increased.
We also suggest that the BBAT could prove to be an effective
tool for use in research studies where objective assessments of
breast feeding may be required, especially when assessments
might be performed by more than one assessor. However, further
research should be done in a wider breast feeding population with
larger numbers of multiple comparisons to establish its general
usefulness.