Objective   To examine breast-feeding among neonatal inpatients in neonatal departments before and after normalized containment of coronavirus disease – 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Guangdong province.

  Methods   With convenient sampling and a self-designed questionnaire, we conducted a retrospective survey on breast-feeding and its associates among neonatal inpatients in neonatal departments of 40 hospitals at provincial or municipal/county or district level before the COVID-19 pandemic (October – December, 2019) and after normalized containment of the pandemic (October – December, 2020) in Guangdong province. Chi-square test and corrected Chi-square test were used in data analysis.

  Results  Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the breast-feeding rate was less than 50% among the neonatal inpatients in 20 neonatal departments and the rate was higher than 70% only in 5 (12.5%) of the 40 departments surveyed. During the period of normalized containment of the pandemic, the breast-feeding rates declined significantly compared to those before the pandemic among the neonatal inpatients in the departments of the hospitals at various administrative levels, with the rates of higher than 30% in only in 10.0% (4) of the 40 departments and lower than 10% in 60% (24) of the 40 departments (all P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the breast-feeding rate among the neonatal inpatients in the neonatal departments of hospitals at various administrative levels before the pandemic and during the normalized containment of the pandemic (P > 0.05 for all) . The proportions of the implementation of 15 measures for promoting breast-feeding ranged 5.0% – 87.5% among the 40 neonatal departments, with the proportions of less than 25.0% for the implementations of 6 measures including breastfeeding education before delivery (22.5%), breast-feeding-related oral hygiene (17.5%), and collection of breast milk donation (5.0%). During the normalized containment of the pandemic, only 8 (20.0%) of the 40 neonatal departments continued to collect donated breast milk and the decreased donated breast milk was associated with the declined breast-feeding rate among the neonatal inpatients (P < 0.001).

  Conclusion  The breast-feeding rate was low among neonatal inpatients in neonatal departments of hospitals in Guangdong province and the rate decreased significantly during the period of normalized containment of COVID-19 pandemic.