Discussion
We did not find any significant difference in the BAT scores at 36–48 h of age between the infants who received early SSC and those who did not. This is in accord with the results of the study by Carfoot et al. [8], which also suggested that the BF success before discharge was simi- lar in the two groups. However, the studies that have eval- uated the effect of SSC on first breast feed report higher scores [6, 8] and a better mean sucking competency in the early-SSC group [9]. Notwithstanding the slightly differ- ent nature of the outcomes, we assume the following fac- tors to have contributed to the absence of a significant difference in BAT scores in the two groups: (a) improve- ment in the feeding behavior of the control infants over 48 h following routine BF counseling of mothers; (b) the possibility of missing a true difference in the scores by one-time assessment of a feeding session, and (c) the lim- ited power of the study because of the unexpectedly large variation in the results – while the sample size was calcu- lated based on the assumed SD of 2.2, the SD of the two study groups turned out to be 3.4.