Nurse-led early initiation of breastfeeding on the LATCH scoring system

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nurse-led early initiation of breastfeeding on LATCH breastfeeding assessment. Materials and Method: An evaluative quasi-experimental study was conducted after ethical approval. The setting of the study was the Labor Theatre (LT) of a tertiary referral hospital of Udupi district in south India. A total of 24 mother-newborn dyads were recruited to the experimental group and 22 mother-newborn dyads were recruited to the control group. Results: Majority of the mothers in the experimental group 22 (91.7%) and control group 20 (90.9%) were in the age group of 20-30 years. Majority of the newborns in the experimental group 14 (58.3%) were males; whereas majority of the newborns in the control group 12 (54.4%) were females. The independent sample ‘t’ test computed to find the effectiveness of nurse-led early initiation of breastfeeding on LATCH scores obtained at the end of first postnatal day showed a statistically significant difference between the experimental and the control group (t = 6.152, p =0.001). Conclusions: Newborns with latch-on problems cause stress not only for the mother but also for the staff catering to the mother-newborn dyads and often this may result in early termination of breastfeeding itself. This study found that nurse led early initiation of breastfeeding is helpful in improving LATCH scores. Since early initiation of breastfeeding is very important for continuation of exclusive breastfeeding, all the health care professionals who provide care to the mother-newborn dyads must put sincere efforts to promote this best practice.