Does Applying Epidural Analgesia During Delivery Delay Breast-Feeding?

Abstract

Objectives: In recent years, more pregnant women have been demanding pain relief during delivery. The type of delivery or the method of analgesia applied can affect the duration of breastfeeding. This study aimed to estimate therelationship between women who received Epidural Analgesia during labor and breastfeeding early and after.Methods: In this retrospective study, vaginal deliveries in our hospital in Istanbul between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2019 are included.The patients were evaluated in two groups as women undergoing Epidural Analgesia duringlabor and women without Epidural Analgesia. Mother's age, father's age was obtained from a prenatal survey. Parity,gestational week, birth weight, duration of labor, satisfaction status were obtained from obstetric records. Data on thenutritional status of the baby and breastfeeding problems within the first 24 hours after birth were obtained from thebreastfeeding history form. Nutritional status and breastfeeding problems were obtained from the policlinic recordsin the 4th week after birth. Nutritional status was classified into three types as breastfeeding only, formula feeding ormixed nutrition. The causes of babies fed formula are listed. The relationship between Epidural Analgesia during laborand breastfeeding was investigated. Statistical significance was accepted as p