Oral Dextrose Gel for Neonatal Hypoglycemia and Delayed Newborn Bath’s Effects on the In-Hospital Exclusive Breastfeeding Rate

, Abstract Background: World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of an infant’s life. Exclusive breastfeeding is the use of human milk as the only food source. Exclusive breastfeeding at the time of infant’s discharge from Mother-Baby unit increases the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding throughout the neonatal period. A recent study demonstrated that the use of oral dextrose gel as first-line treatment for neonatal hypoglycemia stabilized blood glucose and reduced transferring the neonates to specialized units to receive intravenous dextrose. Additionally, delaying the initial newborn bath has been shown to increase the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge due to the lack of interruption in breastfeeding initiation and skin-to-skin care. Research Aim: To improve in-hospital exclusive breastfeeding rate by adopting the use of oral dextrose gel for neonatal hypoglycemia and by delaying newborn baths to12 hours of life and beyond. Method: We implemented oral dextrose gel in March 2015 and adopted newborn bath delay to 12 hours of life and beyond in May 2015. Newborns who were exclusively breastfed at discharge from Mother-Baby unit, qualified for the study. We determined the core measure PC-05 (the in-hospital exclusive breastfeeding rate) in the 8 months before and after interventions. Result: The rate of exclusive breastfeeding increased from 20.7% in the 8 months before the first intervention to 32.8% in the 8 months after the second intervention. Conclusion: Implementation of oral dextrose gel for neonatal hypoglycemia and delay initial newborn bath were associated with improving our in-hospital exclusive breastfeeding rate.