Speaker
Description
Skin-to-skin contact in the immediate postpartum period is associated with numerous benefits for the newborn and mother (1), including greater success in establishing breastfeeding, increased milk production, and improved emotional bonding (2, 3).
Within the framework of implementing the best practice guide: Breastfeeding - Promoting and Supporting the Initiation, Exclusivity, and Continuation of Breastfeeding for Newborns, Infants, and Young Children. 3rd ed. at the Torrecárdenas University Hospital, Almería, Spain, improvement measures were initiated, including institutional support for breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact, improved record-keeping in the delivery room and postpartum units hosting dyads, professional training, and standardization of care protocols.
In this context, we aimed to evaluate the impact of these actions on improving skin-to-skin care provided in the delivery room.
For this purpose, an evaluation was carried out in December 2022, prior to the centre's designation as a candidate BPSO centre. Subsequently, variables were collected from the first months of the guide's implementation, from September 2023 to March 2024.
A total of 291 dyads were included, with 50.17% of the newborns being girls, and an average birth weight of 3332.23 ± 7.25 g. The pre-implementation evaluation included 37 cases, of which 29 (80.26%) received skin-to-skin contact, although only 5 cases (17.24%) were immediate. In 8 cases (27.59%), the duration of contact was more than 1 hour, achieving early breastfeeding in 77.22% (n=26). In the intervention period, we observed an increase in skin-to-skin contact up to 89.66% (n=26), being immediate in 68.18% (n=15) and lasting more than 1 hour in 86.96% (n=20). The rate of immediate breastfeeding was 96.55%.
CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of recommendations derived from the Guide resulted in an increase in immediate skin-to-skin contact and early initiation of breastfeeding.
What RNAO BPG or tool/toolkit is this work related to:
Promoting and Supporting the Initiation, Exclusivity, and Continuation of Breastfeeding for Newborns, Infants, and Young Children. 3rd ed.
Keywords
Breastfeeding; Skin-to-skin contact
Author(s) Credentials and Title
María del Mar Murillo is a midwife of the maternity ward of the Hospital Universitario Torrecárdenas, Almería, Spain, with extensive education and specialization in breastfeeding
| Organization Name | Hospital Universitario Torrecárdenas, Almería, Spain |
|---|
