Breastfeeding Evaluation of Puerperal Women Who Had Cesarean Delivery in Our Hospital

İntroduction The World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recommends that infants are exclusively breastfed for a minimum of 6 months, with continued breastfeeding recommended until child age of 2 years or over to optimize growth, development, and health. Breast milk shows significant benefits for the physical and mental health of mothers and infants, including the promotion of maternal and infant bonding, the reduction of neonatal mortality, the reduction of maternal postoperative complications, and the development of newborns. Breastfeeding has been associated with improved maternal/infant bonding and increased child intelligence. In addition breastfeeding has many benefits for infant, mother and later child health.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recommend initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of birth, referred to as "early initiation of breastfeeding." Early initiation of breastfeeding is critical to newborn survival and to establish breastfeeding practice over the long term. When breastfeeding is delayed after birth, the consequences can be life-threatening and the longer newborns are left waiting, the greater the risk.

It is also clear that medical interventions during labor and birth, including a caesarean section, impact on women's infant feeding decisions and are a cause for concern given increasing global caesarean birth rates, with woman who have a planned caesarean birth reported as less likely to intend to breastfeed than women who did not have a planned caesarean birth or had a vaginal birth. Infrequent feeding and women's limited mobility in the early days following surgery may impede efforts to provide basic infant care. High levels of postoperative pain, particularly in the first 24 hrs, were also found to have a negative impact on women's breastfeeding experiences. Cesarean delivery is linked with lower rates of early breastfeeding initiation.

Pain management after casarean delivery remains challenging. The best-accepted traditional analgesic approach is continuous epidural analgesia. However, epidural analgesia is rapidly being replaced by transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks. TAP infiltration is an alternative to epidural blocks for providing postoperative analgesia to the anterior abdominal wall. TAP infiltrations are relatively easy to perform, generally safe, and can be performed in patients who are anti-coagulated. TAP infiltration can be performed as a single injection, or a catheter can be inserted for continuous local anesthetic infusion.

We therefore proposed to compare impact of TAP block, epidural analgesia and iv multimodal analgesia after spinal analgesia on maternal comfort in patients with elective caesarean section. We will evaluate the following specific aims, all of which will be assessed over 72 hours, or the duration of hospitalization if shorter:

Primary Aim: To compare the effect of pain management after cesarean on the rates of initiation of breastfeeding in the first hour after birth and exclusive breast milk in the first 72 hours in elective cesarean deliveries with spinal anesthesia.

Secondary Aim 1: To compare the effect of pain management after cesarean on the rates of the confidence and comfort of breastfeeding mothers after elective cesarean deliveries with spinal anesthesia.

Hypothesis. Four quadrant TAP blocks performed after elective inert cesarean section increase the rate of breastfeeding in the first 1 hour and the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 72 hours.

3. Method and Study Design A. Study Overview A randomized double-blind trial is designed comparing TAP blocks , epidural analgesia and ıv multimodal analgesia and placebo in patients having elective inert cesarean deviveries with spinal anesthesia. The study will be performed at Konya City Hospital with IRB approval and written consent from patients.

B. Setting and Population

Inclusion criteria:

• Written informed consent;
• 18-45 years old;
• ASA Physical Status 1-3;
• Scheduled for elective cesarien delivery;
• Anticipated hospitalization of at least three nights;
• Expected requirement for parenteral opioids for at least 72 hours for postoperative pain;
• Able to use IV PCA systems.

Exclusion criteria:

• Hepatic disease, e.g. twice the normal levels of liver enzymes;
• Kidney disease, e.g. twice the normal level of serum creatinine;
• Bupivacaine sensitivity or known allergy;
• Anticoagulants considered to be a contraindication for TAP blocks;
• Surgeries with high port sites;

C. Withdrawal Criteria Patients will be free to withdraw from study at any time. Patients will also be removed from study at any time for adverse events, or deemed necessary for patient safety.