Effect of Labor Epidural Anesthesia on Breast-feeding of Healthy Full-term Newborns Delivered Vaginally

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Comparison of Breast-feeding Groups.

Characteristics	Epidural Anesthesia (n = 115)	No Epidural Anesthesia (n = 116)
Mean maternal age, y	29	27
Nulliparity, %	49^*	34^*
White race, %	95	96
Maternal length of stay, d	2.0	1.9
Infant female, %	50	50
Mean gestational age, wk	39	39
Mean birth weight, g	3,490	3,500
Mean Apgar score—1 min	8.2	8.2
Mean Apgar score—5 min	8.9	8.9
Infant umbilical arterial, pH	7.27^†	7.28^‡
Meconium, %	11	16
Infant length of stay, d	2.0	2.0
Infant positive Coombs test, %	11	10
Infant void within 24 hours, %	90	94

Table 2.

Effect of Labor Epidural Anesthesia on Breast-feeding.

Outcomes	Odds Ratio	^*95% CI	P Value^†
Primary outcome
Two breast-feedings within 24 h (total LATCH score = 7, latch score = 2/2)	0.53	0.28–1.03	.044
Secondary outcomes
Two breast-feedings within 24 h (total LATCH score = 7)	0.49	0.21–1.11	.060
Two breast-feedings within 24 h (latch score = 2/2)	0.53	0.28–1.03	.044
Bottle supplement during stay	2.63	1.43–4.85	<.001
Bottle supplement before two breast-feedings (latch score = 2/2)	2.17	1.00–4.74	.031
Bottle supplement within 24 h	2.55	1.26–5.18	.004
First breast-feeding attempt within 1 h	1.66	0.93–2.97	.064

Table 3.

Effect of Timing of Epidural Anesthesia on Breast-feeding.

Outcome	Epidural Within 2 Hours of Birth			Epidural Within 4 Hours of Birth			Epidural Within 6 Hours of Birth
Outcome	OR	P Value^*	95% CI^†	OR	P Value^*	95% CI^†	OR	P Value^*	95% CI^†
Two breast-feedings within 24 h (total LATCH score = 7, latch score = 2/2)	0.86	.754	0.30–2.52	0.91	.815	0.38–2.19	1.26	.611	0.46–3.41
Two breast-feedings within 24 h (total LATCH score = 7)	0.88	.779	0.26–3.19	1.14	.784	0.40–3.21	1.48	.446	0.47–4.59