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. 2024 Feb 10;11(2):232.
doi: 10.3390/children11020232.

The Role of Skin-to-Skin Contact and Breastfeeding in the First Hour Post Delivery in Reducing Excessive Weight Loss

Valentina Jurgelėnė  1   2 , Vilma Kuzmickienė  1   2 , Dalia Stonienė  1
Affiliations

The Role of Skin-to-Skin Contact and Breastfeeding in the First Hour Post Delivery in Reducing Excessive Weight Loss

Valentina Jurgelėnė et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background and aims: An excessive weight loss (EWL) of >10% after birth is associated with serious health outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine factors that can reduce weight loss in full-term, exclusively breastfed infants after birth.

Methods: This is a retrospective, observational, single-center study. We included 642 healthy, full-term, exclusively breastfed neonates born in 2019 in a baby-friendly hospital, and their healthy mothers. The exclusion criteria were as follows: supplementation with formula, multiple pregnancies, and neonates or mothers with health issues.

Results: The mean percentage of neonatal weight loss after 24 h of life was 5.13%, and that after 48 h was 6.34%. Neonates delivered via a caesarean section lost more weight after 24 and 48 h of life than those delivered via vaginal delivery (p < 0.01). There is a noticeable pattern that neonates tend to lose more weight if they do not get skin-to-skin contact (SSC) and breastfeeding within the first hour after birth (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: Neonates born via a CS tend to lose more weight after 24 and 48 h of life. Immediate SSC and breastfeeding in the first hour after delivery may decrease the excessive weight loss.

Keywords: excessive weight loss; exclusive breastfeeding; neonate; skin-to-skin contact.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funder had no role in the design of the study, collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript, or decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cohort constitution.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The impact of SSC and breastfeeding in the 1 h on the weight loss among neonates delivered via VD and CS. χ2 = 16.04, df = 3, p = 0.001 by Kruskal–Wallis test. Negative values in the Y axis means that neonates gained weight.
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