The Impact of Increased Skin-to-Skin Contact With the Mother in Breastfeeding Neonates on Exclusive Breastfeeding at 4 and 8 Weeks Postpartum

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate dose of skin-to-skin (STS) contact as a nursing intervention to increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding after discharge

Design: A descriptive correlational study

Setting: A Level II maternity unit in Ohio

Participants: Women who had a vaginal delivery of a term, well newborn, with intent to exclusively breastfeed

Methods: Newborns were placed STS with their mothers at birth. Mothers were encouraged to maintain frequent STS with their newborns while in the hospital, and kept a log of STS time. A lactation consultant made follow-up phone calls at 4 weeks and 8 weeks postpartum to assess breastfeeding exclusivity. Spearman rho was used to analyze the data.

Results: Duration of STS was not correlated with exclusive breastfeeding at either 4 weeks or 8 weeks postpartum. However, early STS was correlated with exclusive breastfeeding at 4 weeks postpartum.

Comments

An early version of the paper was presented at the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses' Convention, Nashville, TN, June 15-19, 2013, which can be found at http://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/nursing_faculty/218/.

DOI

10.1891/2158-0782.6.2.75


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