Efficacy of early skin-to-skin contact on the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in term neonates: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background: Despite multiple benefits of breast milk, the rates of exclusive breastfeeding in developing countries are low. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of early skin -to -skin contact (SSC) on the rate of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) at 6 weeks of age among term neonates born by vaginal delivery. Methods: Term neonates born by vaginal delivery and did not require any resuscitation were randomized at birth to SSC (n=100) and control (n=100) group. Immediately after clamping the umbilical cord, SSC group neonates were placed on the bare bosom of mother and control group neonates were placed under a radiant warmer for a period of 45 minutes each while mothers underwent management of the third stage of labor and episiotomy repair. Pain experienced by mother during episiotomy repair was recorded using a numerical pain scale The primary outcome evaluated was the rate of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 weeks of postnatal age. Results: A significantly higher proportion of neonates were exclusively breastfeed at 6 weeks of age in the SSC group than in the control group (72% vs. 57.6%, p=0.04, relative risk: 1.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.0 -1.6). The pain score during episiotomy repair in mothers of the SSC group was significantly lower than the control group (4.74±0.85 versus 5.34±0.81; P <0.01). Conclusions: Early SSC significantly improved the rate of exclusively breastfeeding at 6 weeks of age among healthy term neonates. An important additional effect was a decrease in the amount of pain that mothers in the SSC group experienced during episiotomy repair.

Early essential newborn care is associated with increased breastfeeding: a quasi-experimental study from Sichuan Province of western China

“…The associations were significant among infants at discharge (74.5% vs. 55.0%), 3 months (OR=3.20), and 6 months (OR=4.91) of age. Our findings were consistent with previous researches, which showed that infants provided with SSC were more likely to be breastfed at hospital discharge [33], day 28 [32], 1 month [29], and 6 weeks after birth [36]. A review by Moore et al in 2016 of 38 trials with 3472 pairs covering 21 countries found that women who received SSC were more likely to exclusively breastfeed their babies from 6 weeks to 6 months (RR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.90) of age [37].…”

The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth on exclusive breastfeeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…In this regard, according to the results of the present study, the postnatal skin contact of the mother and neonate could increase the exclusive breastfeeding rate. It is suggested that contact between the mother and baby be adopted as a care method by maternal and child health care providers, such as midwives, doctors, and students responsible in childbirth (34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40).…”

The evolution of the science of kangaroo (mother) care (skin‐to‐skin contact)

“…Research continued to document the benefits of KC on breastfeeding rates and exclusivity of breastfeeding (Gathwala et al, 2010;Keshavarz & Haghighi, 2010;Srivastava et al, 2014). Sharma (2016) reported a significantly higher proportion of full-term infants who received early KC (72%) were exclusively breastfeed at 6 weeks of age than infants who did not get KC.…”