Effect of mother-infant early skin-to-skin contact on breastfeeding status: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of mother-infant early skin-to-skin contact on breastfeeding behavior of infants.

STUDY DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, from November to December 2009.

METHODOLOGY: Eligible mothers were assessed for the successful breastfeeding by using IBFAT tool. The time to initiate the first feed, time to effective breastfeeding, maternal satisfaction with the care provided, preference for the same care in future and level of exclusive breastfeeding at the age of one month were also noted. The data was compared by using X2 and t-test. Significant p-value was taken as < 0.05.

RESULTS: A total of 183 mother-infant pairs (92 in skin-to-skin care [SSC] group and 91 in conventional care [CC] group) were analyzed for breastfeeding behavior of the infants. The first breastfeed was 26.25% more successful in SSC group (58.8% in SSC group as compared to 32.5% in CC group with p-value of 0.001). In SSC group, the mean time to initiate first breastfeed was 61.6 minutes shorter than CC group (40.62 vs. 101.88; p < 0.001). Mean time to achieve effective breastfeeding was 207 minutes earlier in SSC group (149.69 vs. 357.50; p < 0.001). The level of satisfaction in the mothers of SSC group was significantly high as compared to controls (56% vs. 6.2%). Similarly, 53.8% mothers of SSC group showed preference for similar care in future as compared to 5% in CC group. In SSC group 85.3% infants were exclusively breastfed at one month as compared to 65.7% in CC group (p=0.025).

CONCLUSION: Maternal-infant early skin-to-skin contact significantly enhanced the success of first breastfeed and continuation of exclusive breastfeeding till one month of age. It also reduced the time to initiate first feed and time to effective breastfeeding.