Delayed Cord Clamping and Early Skin-to-skin Contact in Cesarean Section as Interventions That Promote Exclusive Breastfeeding

BACKGROUND: Delayed umbilical cord clamping as well as immediate skin-to-skin contact between mother and newborn are emerging practices due to documented benefits for the mother-child binomial. The American Academy of Pediatrics, through the neonatal resuscitation program, considers that late clamping should be a common practice in all healthy babies, but in the case of a baby at risk, it recommends cutting the umbilical cord early and treating newborn on radiant warmer for resuscitation. Caesarean birth is considered a risk factor.

In Mexico and in many other countries early contact, skin to skin between the mother and child in Cesarean sections, is not common.

The World Health Organization (WHO), among multiple strategies to promote breastfeeding, promotes skin-to-skin contact at birth, that is: "to place babies with their mothers since birth minimal an hour or until the baby has been fed to the mother's breast". Different publications has determined that the ideal period to strengthen breastfeeding corresponds to the first minutes of life and does not go beyond the first 2 hours. Because it is usual to take care of the baby in radiant warmer, away from his mother, in caesarean sections, these recommendations are generally not met.

Searching the benefit of delayed cut of the umbilical cord, researchers began placing healthy babies in their mother's chest, even in cesarean deliveries, thus generating immediate skin-to-skin contact and incidentally an increase in the frequency of breastfeeding during the first six months, so a protocol was initiated to compare the morbidity and mortality of this technique in relation to traditional care (immediate cut of the umbilical cord and separation mother-child) and follow-up of babies at least six months to register the form of breastfeeding.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Pilot study. All healthy mother-neonates binomials, obtained by caesarean section by the same medical team in 3 private hospitals, born between January 2015 and August 2017 in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico followed for a minimum of 6 months in the private consultation were included. They were compared with an equal number of historical binomials, attended by the same medical team under the traditional technique and with the same follow-up time. The variables in this group were collected from their files.