Effect of early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact combined with continuous nursing on postpartum exclusive breastfeeding

Objective To investigate the effect of early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact combined with continuous nursing on postpartum exclusive breastfeeding. Methods 300 cases of single full-term pregnant women were collected, and were randomly divided into continuous nursing group (group A), early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact group (group B), and combination group (group C), 100 cases in each group. The group A was given continuous nursing, the group B was given postpartum early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact, the group C was given continuous nursing combined with early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact. Exclusive breastfeeding at discharge, at one month after delivery, at three months after delivery, and at six months after delivery were compared among the three groups. Results The feeding rates in group A at discharge, at one month after delivery, at three months after delivery, and at six months after delivery were respectively 94.0%, 88.0%, 81.0%, 75.0%, those in group B were respectively 99.0%, 87.0%, 82.0%, 73.0%, and those in group C were respectively 98.0%, 93.0%, 90.0%, 87.0%. There were no statistically significant differences in the postpartum breastfeeding rate among the three groups at discharge, at one month after delivery, at three months after delivery (P>0.05), the breastfeeding rate in group C was significantly higher than that in group A and in group B at six months after delivery (P 0.05). Conclusion Early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact combined with continuous nursing can effectively improve the long-term breast feeding rate, it is worthy of clinical reference. Key words: Early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact; Continuous nursing; Exclusive breastfeeding