I did a chart review to gather breastfeeding statistics to compare the rates before and after our program's interventions were put in place. This was for a program for outpatients of the Pediatric and Family Practice offices that are owned by my hospital. But you could do a similar study for your impatient program. We started our interventions in June of 1996. I got a computer print-out of all the babies that were born and entered the practice from 6/95-12/95. That way they were at least 6 months old at the time of the study. We had the office staff pull a statistical sample number of charts and record if the babies were still breastfeeding at each regular well-baby appointment - birth, 2 weeks, 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months. We did not quantify breastfeeding. If the mom reported the baby was still breastfeeding, it was a "Yes". So we were looking at any breastfeeding. After the interventions were in place for one year, we repeated the process for babies born from 6/96-12/96. This study was done in October 1997. We then compared the percentages. We did not study all the offices. We picked 3 - an innercity, city, and suburban location. We did not look at all the charts, but picked a sample size (as indicated by a table I had) based on the number of new babies for each location. In the analysis I compared them to their own percentages from the previous year, to each other, and to Healthy People 2000 Goals. Becareful not to have too short a time-frame for your study group. Month-to-month percentages can change up or down inspite of your interventions, not necessarily because of them. Six months gave us a good range. I'd be happy to answer and further questions about this...After I get back from Boca Raton!!!!! Barb Berges BS, RN, IBCLC Rochester, New York