Assessment of Factors Affecting Breastfeeding Performance and Latch Score: A Prospective Cohort Study.

We analyzed 338 patients in this prospective study. Patients with high-risk pregnancies were found to have lower LATCH scores at each measurement (p: 0.002, 0.001, and 0.09, respectively). Skin-to-skin contact immediately after delivery and breastfeeding longer than 20 min in the first session did not improve LATCH scores (p>0.05). Breastfeeding within 30 min after delivery significantly improved LATCH scores at each session (p<0.01 for all). Odds ratios of having a LATCH score lower than 8 was 10.9 (95% CI: 4.22-28.37) for the patients breastfed after more than 30 min, while this ratio was 2.17 (95% CI: 1.34-3.50) and 6.5 (95% CI: 3.46-12.58) for the patients having a high-risk pregnancy and cesarean section, respectively. Furthermore, we also determined a positive statistically significant association between parity and all LATCH scores according to regression analyses (p: 0.005, 0.028, and 0.035 for LATCH scores at initial breastfeeding, postnatal day 1 and 2, respectively) CONCLUSION: High-risk pregnancies, patients who delivered by cesarean section, and patients not attempting to breastfeed within 30 min tend to have lower LATCH scores.