The effect of breastfeeding education and skin-to-skin contact on breastfeeding efficiency and maternal attachment: a randomized controlled study

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to compare the effects of breastfeeding education and skin-to-skin contact on breastfeeding efficiency and maternal attachment. This study was a three-group randomized controlled study. This study was conducted with 92 women in a delivery room in Türkiye between October 2021 and May 2022. The study consists of continuous early SSC (Group A), breastfeeding education (Group B), and control groups (Group C). Group A received SSC education and Group B received structured breastfeeding education. The groups were homogeneous in terms of sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics (p > 0.05). The levels of maternal attachment and breastfeeding activity of mothers in Group A were effective (p < 0.001). While SSC education was more effective than breastfeeding education in terms of these variables (p < 0.001), no significant difference was found in the control group. These findings may encourage professional support in enhancing breastfeeding efficiency and maternal attachment. .

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05433818.

KEYWORDS:

• Breastfeeding education
• breastfeeding efficiency
• newborn
• maternal attachment
• skin-to-skin contact

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all women who participated in the study.

Author contributions

ETÇ, ND: collected the data. FÇC: the conception and design of the study, or analysis and interpretation of data. ETÇ, FÇC: drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content. ETÇ, FÇC, ND: final approval of the version to be submitted.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

Ethics committee approval of the study was obtained from Kütahya Health Sciences University Rectorate Non-Interventional Ethics Committee (No: E-41997688-050.99-26938). This study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05433818).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Funda Çitil Canbay

Funda Çitil Canbay, BSM, PhD, is an assistant professor at Department of Midwifery, Health Science Faculty, Atatürk University in Erzurum, Turkey.

Elif Tuğçe Çitil

Elif Tuğçe Çitil, BSM, PhD, is an assistant professor at Department of Midwifery, Health Science Faculty, Kütahya Health Science University, in Kütahya, Turkey.

Nuriye Değirmen

Nuriye Değirmen, BSN, PhD, is an associate professor at Department of Midwifery, Health Science Faculty, Kütahya Health Science University, in Kütahya, Turkey.