Breastfeeding Interventions for the Inpatient Stay the First Hour
If the infant and mother are clinically stable, the infant should be placed skin–to–skin on the mother’s chest and assisted to breastfeed within the first hour of birth.
Rationale: Late preterm infants show better cardiorespiratory stability with early skin–to–skin contact (Moore et al., 2007). A dose–response relationship exists between early skin–to–skin contact and exclusive breastfeeding, with longer contact times resulting in an increased likelihood of breastfeeding exclusivity in the hospital (Bramson et al., 2010). Early skin–to skin contact reduces the risk of hypothermia and lowers the risk of hypoglycemia by decreasing crying (Christensson et al., 1992) and increasing breastfeeding opportunities.