The Effect of Early Maternal Newborn Skin to Skin Contact after Birth on the Third Stage of Labor and Breast Feeding Status

Background an essential practice for safe and healthy birth is to keep mothers and babies together
and ensure unlimited opportunities for skin-to-skin care and breastfeeding. Aim: To assess the
effect of mother and newborn early skin-to-skin contact (SSC) on the third stage of labor and breast
feeding status. Subjects &Methods: A randomized controlled clinical trial was used, and a
purposive sample of 100 parturient women was recruited who equally divided into two groups.
Early mother and newborn SSC was applied to the study group, while no intervention was done to
the control group. The study has been conducted in the delivery room of maternity hospital at
Zagazig university hospital. Tools of data collection include; an assessment sheet to elicit
information about women characteristics, their condition during the third stage of labor, the infant
breast-feeding assessment tool (IBFAT), and maternal satisfaction tool. Results: Women in the SSC
group were significantly more likely to have shorter duration of the third stage of labor, hard and
contracted uterus, less amount of blood loss as well as early initiation of breast feeding and group
more satisfaction of the parturient women than the control (p < 0.05). Conclusion. Early maternal
and newborn SSC leads to the reduction of the duration of placental delivery, followed by hard and
contracted uterus as well as less amount of blood loss after delivery. It also lead to early initiation
and successful breast feeding as well as promoting mother’s satisfaction. Recommendation.
Maternity nurses have a responsibility to support this physiologic need through education,
advocacy, and implementation of evidence-based maternity practices