Introduction: at the beginning and establishment of breastfeeding, adequate care routines are essential, such as its early initiation and skin-to-skin contact, which implies the need to facilitate the joint accommodation of the mother with the newborn in the immediate postpartum period, regardless of the type of delivery.
Objective: to analyze the effects of mother and newborn rooming-in after a cesarean section on breastfeeding rates at hospital discharge and its maintenance up to two years later.
Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted with a random sample of 146 women and their newborns, who were followed up for two years. The characteristic of cohort A was rooming-in of mother and newborn after cesarean section, whereas the characteristic of cohort B was separation of mother and newborn after cesarean section.
Results: cohort A was made up of 67 mothers, 58 of whom were able to do skin-to-skin care after the cesarean section and 46 started breastfeeding during that period. Cohort B was made up of 79 mothers and none could make skin-to-skin contact or initiate breastfeeding.
Conclusions: skin-to-skin contact after caesarean section, as well as avoiding the administration of supplements during this period, has a beneficial effect on the initiation and maintenance of breastfeeding; and this is possible thanks to joint accommodation
