This article discusses the challenges, limitations and possible strategies to conduct an interventional study on assisting mothers to breast-feed under clinical environments. Interventional research design is a valid method to evaluate health care interventions and is a global trend in nursing research. Rigorous interventional studies can provide the most valid evidence on the efficacy of nursing interventions and solving the problems in clinical practice. Conducting nursing intervention studies often is faced with the challenge of differences between ideal and actual clinical conditions and research ethical issues. Nursing researchers must develop effective strategies in overcoming challenges to achieve the degree of rigor and feasibility under the restrain of clinical situations. This paper may be used as a reference for nursing interventional studies.