The effect of procedures used in the delivery room on the time of the onset of lactation

Abstract Breastfeeding is the optimal method of feeding infants during the first period of their lives. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of hospital procedures on the onset of lactation, presenting the relationship between maintaining skin-to-skin contact and the time of attaching an infant to the mother’s breast, the course of first breastfeeding, feeding methods, suctioning an infant’s airway after birth and the type of delivery. The study was conducted using a diagnostic survey. The questionnaire contained 31 closed and semi-open questions concerning hospital procedures that could affect the lactation process. The respondents were primiparous and multiparous women in an early postpartum period who gave birth through the abdominal wall or vaginally. The study included 154 women aged 18–45 years who gave birth at the Department of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Gynecology of Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Hospital in Police (Poland). The collected material was analyzed statistically using the χ2 test. Based on the obtained results, the following conclusions were drawn: the onset of lactation was influenced by early skin-to-skin contact after birth with simultaneously attaching the baby to the breast, vaginal birth after the 37th week of pregnancy, and the duration of labor.