Study of LATCH SCORE and Factors Affecting Feeding in Mother Baby dyad in a Tertiary care centre on Postnatal day 2 ----A Prospective, Observational Study

Abstract

Introduction: Breastfeeding confers many short and long-term benefits to both the mother and baby. Successful breastfeeding can be a complex task for the 1mother–infant pair. LATCH score is a tool developed in 1994 to assess breastfeeding and identify mothers who are at risk for failure of exclusive breastfeeding (Jensen, Wallace, & Kelsey, 1994). Objectives :1. To find out the proportion of mothers having feeding issues using LATCH Score on second postnatal day and estimate lactation failure 2. To give lactation counselling to mothers with feeding issues (LATCH Score-<7) and check the result 3)To compare the LATCH scores with maternal parity, education ,,occupation,, type of family, type of delivery ,baby weight and gestational age Methodology: Study design – Descriptive observational study Study population: Mothers of age group 18-35 who delivered healthy singletons in the hospital during the study period of 18 months from november2019 to may 2021. Mothers who delivered twins, mothers of babies with congenital anomaly or congenital cardiac disease, sick babies with severe respiratory distress requiring oxygen, sepsis, or meningitis, babies admitted in NICU for > 48 hours were excluded. Detailed history specifically about their breastfeeding patterns and the latch score was assessed. Data was analysed using SPSS. Qualitative variables was expressed in percentages and quantitative variables will be expressed as mean (SD). Chi square test and student t tests were used. Results: Of the 390 mothers studied, the incidence of lactation failure in the early postnatal period was 57.2% There was significant association between age of mother, parity, education status, type of family, type of delivery and latch score. Conclusion: Estimating latch score and instituting early lactation counselling will help to avoid lactation failure and ensure successful feeding.