Aim:

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the breastfeeding during the first 24 hours in nullipa-rous mothers who had a vaginal birth with or without epidural anaesthesia.

Material and Method:

Study cohorts consited of 40 mothers who had vaginal birth with epidural anesthesia and 40 mothers who had birth without anesthesia. A data collection form and the LATCH Breast Feeding Point System were used. Each mother was evaluated three times in a 24-hour period in the hospital.

Results:

Sixty percent of mothers in each group did not breastfeed within the first 30 minutes. There was no significant difference between two groups for the time of beginning to feed the baby (p>0,05). There were no significant difference between baby’s sleeping situation and reflexes of sucking (p>0,05). No differences were diagnosed by first and fifth minutes APGAR scores (p>0,05). No meaningful differences were observed in 6th 12th and 24th hours by LATCH points. At 24th hour, baby’s temple moving was higher in without anesthesia group (p<0,05). In epidural group, 12th and 24th hours nipple-ache complaints were higher (p<0,05). In our research there was no meaningful difference of situation at sufficiency of milk. Complaints of milk’s insufficient quantity was higher in mother with epidural group.

Conclusion:

Epidural anaesthesia does not effect babies sucking reflexes, but, complaints of insuffi-cient milk were more common in the epidural group and delays milk secretion.

Keywords: Human Milk, Breastfeeding, Epidural Anesthesia