Effectiveness of early initiation of breastfeeding on sleeping pattern of newborns – An evaluative study

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nurse-led early initiation of breastfeeding on sleeping pattern of newborns. Materials and Method: An evaluative quasi-experimental study was conducted after ethical approval. The setting of the study was the Labor Theatre (LT) of a tertiary referral hospital of Udupi district in south India. A total of 24 mother-newborn dyads were recruited to the experimental group and 22 mother-newborn dyads were recruited to the control group. Results: Majority of the mothers in the experimental group 22 (91.7%) and control group 20 (90.9%) were in the age group of 20-30 years. Majority of the newborns in the experimental group 14 (58.3%) were males; whereas majority of the newborns in the control group 12 (54.4%) were females. The independent sample ‘t’ test computed to find the effectiveness of nurse-led early initiation of breastfeeding showed a statistically significant difference between the experimental and the control group (t = 4.038; p=0.001). Conclusions: This study provides evidence for a link between early initiation of breastfeeding and improved sleeping pattern of newborns. The time to initiate breastfeeding is very crucial for continuation of exclusive breastfeeding. The efforts done to establish early initiation of breastfeeding as best practice would help mothers to breastfeed successfully and for much longer.