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

Objective To determine the risk factors that may affect LATCH scores. Materials and Methods We prospectively evaluated the LATCH scores and any relevant risk factors of patients who delivered at our institution during April and May 2020. All examinations were performed by the same physicians during the study period. LATCH scores were determined at initial breastfeeding session, and postnatal days 1 and 2. Results 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.