Implementation of Breast Crawl for Improving the Rate of Early Initiation of Breastfeeding in Healthy Term Neonates Delivered Vaginally
Uma Siddharth Nayak, Ankita Badhiye, Krishna Brahmbhatt, Apurva Kumar Pandya
Abstract
Background: Early skin-to-skin contact between the mother and her neonate is the standard of care in all types of deliveries. Breast crawl (BC) within the first hour of birth leads to early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF). Evidence indicates that EIBF reduces neonatal and infant mortality rates by achieving higher rates of sustainable exclusive breastfeeding. Therefore, EIBF is a highly effective strategy for improving neonatal survival.
Aim: To assess the effectiveness of the implementation of BC immediately after birth among healthy term neonates born vaginally and to increase the EIBF rate
Materials and Methods: Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles were undertaken using a quality-improvement (QI) approach. The process was conducted in the labor room of a tertiary care hospital over a period of 6 months. All the neonates born at ≥ 37 weeks of gestation through vaginal delivery, where the mother–neonate dyad was hemodynamically stable, were included. The reasons for delayed breastfeeding were noted. A series of PDSA cycles were conducted to assess changes in ideas generated by the team on a small scale.
Results: The number of neonates who were put on BC rose from 8% to 100% by the end of the study. The EIBF percentage increased from 48% to 97.29%. We performed 7 PDSA cycles. The success rates were sustained even after the last PDSA cycle.
Conclusion: BC is recognized as the standard of care. This QI study shows the sustainability of the BC technique for promoting EIBF.
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