The Effect of Home Visit after Cesarean Delivery on Exclusive Breastfeeding in Neonatal Period

Home visit is one of the trials to promotion of exclusive breastfeeding.�Several factors have a negative effect on start and continuation of breastfeeding, one of them being mode of delivery. Cesarean sectioned mothers need more help education and support, especially in positioning of infant on their breast. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of home visit after cesarean delivery on exclusive breastfeeding in the neonatal period at one of the hospitals of Iran University of medical sciences in Tehran, year 2008.

The study was a�randomized controlled trial with 100 mothers who admitted in an educational hospital of Iran University Medical Sciences and gave birth through cesarean delivery. Patients were selected continually and allocated randomly in two groups of experimental and control. During the trial some of samples excluded from research and finally 67 pair of mother and infant remained Data collection tools included a questionnaire was completed via interview with mothers about infant’s feeding. Inclusion criteria were being Iranian mother with healthy singleton baby between2500-4000 gram.Three home visits were performed at 3rd, 10th and 30th day after discharge from hospital in the experimental group. In these days the type of infant’s feeding in control group was recorded after telephone interview with mothers. Then data were analyzed and exclusive breastfeeding was compared in two groups by use of Chi- squire test.

According to the results, Chi- squire test indicated that there was no significant difference between experimental group and control group (in demographic variables such as age, education, income, etc.). The rate of exclusive breastfeeding at one month in experimental group was 82/4% and in control group was 57/6% which significantly differ from each other. (P= 4/91, ײ= 0/02).

According to the findings, it can be claimed that using home visit program could be an effective approach to promote the exclusive breastfeeding in neonatal period. Therefore it can be concluded that education at home environment, supporting and helping cesarean sectioned mothers after discharge is an appropriate strategy in promoting of exclusive breastfeeding and prevention of unfavorable outcome result from early onset of supplementary food.