Background: Step 4 of the Ten steps of the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative
(BFHI) involves immediate skin to skin contact for early breastfeeding initation.
Cesarean section delivery (CSD) can interfere with exclusive breastfeeding
(EBF).
Aim: to study the effect of an intervention involving daily skin-to-skin care
(DSSC), as an expansion of Step 4, to improve EBF in the first weeks of life in
CSD.
Methods: The study included 90 mother-infant pairs who included CSD (45)
and vaginal delivery (VD); (45). Thirty mothers (15 with VD and 15 with CSD)
were supported to perform daily SSC (DSSC) from birth and onwards. Controls
included 30 mothers that did SSC only at birth and 30 who did not perform SSC
at all. The depression score of the women were measured in the last trimester of
pregnancy and at six week postpartum. The babies were weighed at the end of
the follow-up period at six weeks. The development of the child was assessed by
the Denver scale at six weeks. Statistical analysis was done to compare groups
for changes in the antenatal and postnatal depression score and correlate this to
the child development and growth.
Results: By six weeks of age, babies exposed to DSSC were all EBF (100%) in
both VD and CSD, compared to the other groups (non DSSC) who were not
EBF (. Depression score from pregnancy to after delivery decreased steeply in
the group exposed to DSSC, the decrease was more evident in those who
underwent CSD. The score for development at six weeks was significantly
higher in the intervention group of mothers who performed DSSC (P |
