Abstract:
Objective To study the effect of Early Essential Newborn Care(EENC) on the short-term and long-term breastfeeding rates of natural delivery full-term neonates.
Methods Eight epidemiological health research institutes in Sichuan Province were selected as the research sites. Four institutions were randomly selected as the intervention group and four institutions were the control group. The intervention group underwent EENC technology,and the control group underwent routine operation. Each group was evaluated before and after the intervention. Data on breastfeeding were collected after delivery,before discharge,and at one month,three months and 6 months. The survey on 1349 mothers and newborns was conducted. By establishing a statistical model of the difference method,the net effect of the index changes of the intervention group and the control group was calculated. The intervention effect of EENC on breastfeeding was evaluated.
Results Compared with the control group,the start time of the skin contact of the intervention group was shortened by 3.6 minutes,and the duration of the skin contact increased by 21.5 minutes. The duration of the first breastfeeding increased by 4.2 minutes(
P<0.05). The exclusive breastfeeding rate before discharge in the intervention group increased from 62.1% before intervention to 74.5% after intervention(
P<0.05),and it increased from 48.5% to 55.0% in the control group(
P>0.05). The probability of completing the first breastfeeding before stopping skin contact in the intervention group was 5.534 times of the control group. The probability of exclusive breastfeeding for 3-month infants in the intervention group was 3.197 times that of the control group,and the probability of exclusive breastfeeding for the 6-month-old infants was 4.913 times that of the control group.
Conclusion EENC for newborns can promote early breastfeeding,prolong the duration of the first breastfeeding,and increase the breastfeeding rate before discharge. However,the impact on long-term breastfeeding needs further research.