Abstract

Introduction

Medical care of the full-term, healthy newborn in the delivery room has undergone numerous changes over the past few years, one of the purposes being to decrease the excess of interventions performed on the newborn. There are evidences that most of the performed interventions are unnecessary, and some may even be harmful. ¹1  Perlman JM, Wyllie J, Kattwinkel J, Atkins DL, Chameides L, Goldsmith JP, et al. Part 11: Neonatal resuscitation: 2010 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. Circulation 2010; 19;122(16 Suppl 2):S516-38.^,22  Kiremitci S, Tuzun F, Yesilirmak DC, Kumral A, Duman N, Ozkan H. Is gastric aspiration needed for newborn management in delivery room? Resuscitation 2011; 82:40-4.^,33  Aguilar AM, Vain NE. The suctioning in the delivery room debate. Early Hum Dev 2011; 87 Suppl 1:S13-5..

In addition, it is known that the excess of interventions in the delivery room affects the mother/baby interaction. Such early interaction influences the physiology and behavior of both of them. The mother/baby body contact helps regulate the body temperature of the newborn, the maintenance of the acid-base balance, the adjustments for respiration and crying, and promotes maternal-care behavior ⁴4  Winberg J. Mother and newborn baby: mutual regulation of physiology and behavior- a selective review. Dev Psychobiol 2005; 47:217-29.. Similarly, the baby may regulate, i.e., increase, the mother’s attention for their needs, influence the beginning and maintenance of breastfeeding, and stimulate the release of gastrointestinal hormones, leading to a better use of the calories ingested. The effects of some of these situations may still be seen months later ⁴4  Winberg J. Mother and newborn baby: mutual regulation of physiology and behavior- a selective review. Dev Psychobiol 2005; 47:217-29.^,55  Winniccot DW. Os bebês e suas mães. São Paulo: Editora Martins Fontes; 1999..

It has thus been recommended that practices addressing issues other than just survival should be incorporated into the routine care of the newborn ⁷7  Organização Pan-Americana da Saúde Além da sobrevivência: práticas integradas de atenção ao parto, benéficas para a nutrição e a saúde das mães e crianças. Washington DC: Organização Pan-Americana da Saúde; 2007.. Such practices include late umbilical cord-clamping, immediate skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby, early initiation of breastfeeding, kangaroo care, among others. The use of such practices in birthcare, however, varies greatly among health-care facilities around the world, along with geographic and social inequalities, differences in medical expertise, and demographic characteristics of the patients ⁸8  do Carmo ML, Gama SG, Cunha CB. Desigualdades sociodemográficas e suas consequências sobre o peso do recém-nascido. Rev Saúde Pública 2006; 40:466-73.^,99  Paim J, Travassos C, Almeida C, Bahia L, Macinko J. The Brazilian health system: history, advances, and challenges. Lancet 2011; 377:1778-97.^,1010  Luna MS, Alonso CR, Mussons FB, Urcelay IE, Conde JR, Narbona E, et al. Recomendaciones para el cuidado y atención del recién nacido sano en el parto y en las primeras horas después del nacimiento. An Pediatr (Barc) 2009; 71:349-61.. These practices may affect the quality of the care provided, and change immediate and life-long outcomes ¹¹11  Belizán JM, Cafferata ML, Belizán M, Althabe F. Health inequality in Latin America. Lancet 2007; 370:1599-600.^,1212  Hill Z, Tawiah-Agyemang C, Manu A, Okyere E, Kirkwood BR. Keeping newborns warm: beliefs, practices and potential for behaviour change in rural Ghana. Trop Med Int Health 2010; 15: 1118-24..

Variations in the practices used for the care of healthy newborns have been addressed in different situations, with different impacts on their health. Published data reports huge discrepancies between the existing scientific evidences and the medical practices. Furthermore, practitioners may not respond to evidences by implementing changes in policies and practices. This may be due to lack of knowledge or disagreement with the recommendations, but particularly due to local barriers for implementation. ¹⁰10  Luna MS, Alonso CR, Mussons FB, Urcelay IE, Conde JR, Narbona E, et al. Recomendaciones para el cuidado y atención del recién nacido sano en el parto y en las primeras horas después del nacimiento. An Pediatr (Barc) 2009; 71:349-61.^,1313  Acolet D. Quality of neonatal care and outcome. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 2008; 93:F69-73.^,1414  Soll RF. Evaluating the medical evidence for quality improvement. Clin Perinatol 2010; 37:11-28.^,1515  Wennberg JE, Wennburg JE. Practice variations and the challenge to leadership. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1996; 21:910-6.^,1616  Wennberg J, Gittelsohn. Small area variations in health care delivery. Science 1973 ; 182:1102-8.^,1717  Cabana MD, Rand CS, Powe NR, Wu AW, Wilson MH, Abboud PA, et al. Why don’t physicians follow clinical practice guidelines? A framework for improvement. JAMA 1999; 282:1458-65..

The goal of this study was to assess the practices performed, and to identify variations in the delivery of care for the full-term, healthy newborn in the delivery room and in the first hour of life.

Methodology

Birth in Brazil is a national hospital-based study with postpartum women and their newborns, carried out between February 2011 and October 2012 ¹⁸18  do Carmo Leal M, da Silva AA, Dias MA, da Gama SG, Rattner D, Moreira ME, et al. Birth in Brazil: national survey into labour and birth. Reprod Health 2012; 9:15.. The sample was selected in three stages. The first included hospitals with 500 or more deliveries/year, stratified by the five macro-regions of Brazil, location (capital city or not), and type of hospital (private, public, and mixed). The second included days (at least seven days for each hospital), and the third included postpartum women. In each of the 266 hospitals of the sample, 90 postpartum women were interviewed, a total of 23,940 subjects. Further information of the sample design is presented on Vasconcellos et al. ¹⁹19  Vasconcellos MTL, Silva PLN, Pereira APE, Schi-lithz AOC, Souza Junior PRB, Szwarcwald CL. Desenho da amostra Nascer no Brasil: Pesquisa Nacional sobre Parto e Nascimento. Cad de Saúde Pública 2014; 30 Suppl:S49-58..

In the first stage of the study, face-to-face interviews were held with the postpartum women during their hospital stay, data about the woman and the newborn were collected from their medical chart, and pictures of the pre-natal cards of the woman were taken. Interviews over the phone were held before six months and at twelve months after delivery, to collect information about maternal and newborn outcomes. Detailed information on data collection is reported in do Carmo Leal et al. ¹⁸18  do Carmo Leal M, da Silva AA, Dias MA, da Gama SG, Rattner D, Moreira ME, et al. Birth in Brazil: national survey into labour and birth. Reprod Health 2012; 9:15..

The study included only variations in care of full-term births (≥ 37 weeks of pregnancy), with birth weight ≥ 2,500g, 1-minute Apgar score ≥ 7, and of single pregnancy. Exclusion criteria included HIV-positive mothers, newborns with congenital malformations, (reported by the mother or recorded in the maternal or the newborn chart), and need of positive pressure ventilation in the first minutes of life. With inclusion and exclusion criteria applied, the actual sample was of 18,639 newborns. All analyses considered took into consideration the design of the sample, and the figures presented on the Tables are adjusted by the sample weight ¹⁸18  do Carmo Leal M, da Silva AA, Dias MA, da Gama SG, Rattner D, Moreira ME, et al. Birth in Brazil: national survey into labour and birth. Reprod Health 2012; 9:15..

As the number of newborns eligible for this analysis was smaller than the total of the sample, post-hoc sample size calculations were made. Considering a 50% prevalence of newborns who received an intervention during birth and a 5% significance level, the smallest sample used in the article had a 90% power to detect differences of at least 2%.

Two groups of outcome variables of the care provided to the healthy newborn were considered: the first group included improper practices (aspiration of airways and gastric suctioning, use of inhaled oxygen, and use of incubator ¹1  Perlman JM, Wyllie J, Kattwinkel J, Atkins DL, Chameides L, Goldsmith JP, et al. Part 11: Neonatal resuscitation: 2010 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. Circulation 2010; 19;122(16 Suppl 2):S516-38.^,22  Kiremitci S, Tuzun F, Yesilirmak DC, Kumral A, Duman N, Ozkan H. Is gastric aspiration needed for newborn management in delivery room? Resuscitation 2011; 82:40-4.^,33  Aguilar AM, Vain NE. The suctioning in the delivery room debate. Early Hum Dev 2011; 87 Suppl 1:S13-5.), and the second group considered the good medical practices (skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth, offering the breast to the newborn in the delivery room, breastfeeding within the first hour of life, and rooming-in straight from the delivery room ⁶6  Moore ER, Anderson GC, Bergman N, Dowswell T. Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2007; (3):CD003519.^,77  Organização Pan-Americana da Saúde Além da sobrevivência: práticas integradas de atenção ao parto, benéficas para a nutrição e a saúde das mães e crianças. Washington DC: Organização Pan-Americana da Saúde; 2007.^,1010  Luna MS, Alonso CR, Mussons FB, Urcelay IE, Conde JR, Narbona E, et al. Recomendaciones para el cuidado y atención del recién nacido sano en el parto y en las primeras horas después del nacimiento. An Pediatr (Barc) 2009; 71:349-61.). Breastfeeding in the first hour of life, in this study, means the mother offering her breast until 59 minutes after delivery.

The independent variables used to assess different medical practices in the care of the healthy newborn included: region of the country (North, Northeast, Central, Southeast or South), location (capital city or not), and Baby-Friendly accreditation (yes or no) as a characteristic of the hospital; maternal age (< 20 years, 20-34, ≥ 35), schooling (incomplete primary education, complete primary education, complete secondary education, complete higher education), skin color as mentioned by the woman (white, black, brown, yellow/indians), and number of previous deliveries (primiparus, 1 to 2 previous deliveries, three and more previous deliveries) as maternal characteristics; presence of a companion during delivery (yes, no), type of delivery (vaginal, c-section), and source of payment for childbirth (public or private) as birthcare characteristics. It was considered of private funding the childbirth that occurred in private-only facilities, paid by private health plans or out-of-pocket, or those that took place in a public or mixed facility and were paid by a health plan. The remainder was classified as public-funded birthcare.

All the selected outcome and independent variables were collected from the information recorded on hospital charts and validated by a questionnaire applied to the women.

Bivariate analyses were performed with the independent and the outcome variables. To identify variations, the proportions and their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for the interventions and good practices were calculated according to the independent variables. For the multivariate analysis, logistic regression techniques were used. All independent variables were included in the multivariate model. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) (and respective 95%CI) were estimated for all exposure variables. Interactions among the investigated variables were tested.

The study was approved by the Ethics Research Committee of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, and by the ethics committees of the participating institutions. All postpartum women who were subjects in this study signed the Informed Consent form.

Results

There was a high proportion of aspiration of the upper airways, ranging from 62.5% in the Northeast to 76.8% in the Southeast, as well as gastric suctioning, which ranged from 33.8% in the Northeast to 47.8% in the Central Region. The use of inhaled oxygen (8.8%) and incubator (8.7%) was also high, given the low risk presented by these newborns. The proportion of interventions was higher in hospitals not accredited by the Baby-Friendly, in childbirths paid by the private sector, or performed in women who had higher level of education, were white, primiparous, and in those whom a c-section was performed (Table 1).

The skin-to-skin contact of the mother with the newborn immediately after birth was more frequent in the Southern Region (32.5%), as well as offering the breast in the delivery room (22.4%). However, the proportion of childbirths in which the breast is offered in the delivery room is still low in all regions of Brazil (16.1%), with the lowest proportion found in the Northeastern region (11.5%). In hospitals with Baby-Friendly accreditation, the offering of the breast in the delivery room was significantly higher, but still in a low proportion (24%). Separating the baby from the mother also varied significantly among the regions of Brazil. In the Northern Region, 87.3% of the newborns roomed-in with the mothers, whereas in the Southeastern Region this proportion was of 61.4% only. Newborns from vaginal delivery and in hospitals of the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) had a significantly smaller chance of being placed away from the mother after delivery; the same goes for adolescent, lower educated, Indian, and multiparous women, and in deliveries in hospitals located in capital cities, or accredited with the Baby-Friendly Initiative (Table 2).

In the adjusted analysis, the Northeastern Region was a protective variable for aspiration of the upper airways. Gastric suction, in turn, was less frequent in cities of the countryside. The use of inhaled O2 was less frequent in the Northern and Northeastern regions, and in newborns from vaginal deliveries. Lower use of incubators was associated to deliveries in the Central Region, vaginal delivery, and public funding of childbirth (Table 3).

After adjustment for confounders, the variables that were more significantly associated to skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby immediately after birth included delivery in a Baby-Friendly accredited hospital, the presence of a companion during delivery, and vaginal delivery. Women whose delivery was in the countryside, of lower education, and whose birthcare was paid by the public sector had less chance of early skin-to-skin contact. The offering of the maternal breast in the delivery room was associated to being born in a Baby-Friendly accredited hospital, the presence of a companion during delivery, and vaginal delivery. Women in the Northeastern Region were the ones who less offered their breast to the newborns in the delivery room. In terms of rooming-in, it was more frequent in the Northern Region of the country. In addition, being born in a hospital where the Baby-Friendly Initiative was already implemented, the presence of a companion during delivery, vaginal delivery, and public funding of childbirth were also associated to this outcome (Table 4). The variables associated to higher chance of breastfeeding within the first hour of life of the baby were being born in the Northern or Central region, in Baby-Friendly accredited hospitals, the presence of a companion during delivery, vaginal delivery, and childbirth funded by the public health system. On the other hand, the proportion of breastfeeding in the first hour of life was lower among women age 35 or more, or primiparous (Table 4).

Interactions among the variables were tested, and the only interaction found in outcomes was Baby-Friendly accreditation in childbirth paid by the private sector for the variables breastfeeding in the first hour of life, and early skin-to- skin contact.

Discussion

There was high variation among the practices performed in the care of healthy newborns, in the delivery room, in Brazil. Practices considered unsuitable were still broadly performed, whereas some of the considered good practices were left aside. Variations in medical practices have been described since 1938, when Glover ²⁰20  Glover JA. The incidence of tonsillectomy in school children. Proc R Soc Med 1938; 31:1219-36. reported differences in tonsillectomy rates in different geographic areas of the United Kingdom. Studies initiated by Wennberg & Gittelson in the 1970s observed the presence of variations in medical practices for different surgical procedures, and, even after adjustments for age, income, prevalence of diseases, and demographic characteristics of patients, such variations persisted for a number of practices and therapies ¹⁵15  Wennberg JE, Wennburg JE. Practice variations and the challenge to leadership. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1996; 21:910-6.^,1616  Wennberg J, Gittelsohn. Small area variations in health care delivery. Science 1973 ; 182:1102-8.^,1717  Cabana MD, Rand CS, Powe NR, Wu AW, Wilson MH, Abboud PA, et al. Why don’t physicians follow clinical practice guidelines? A framework for improvement. JAMA 1999; 282:1458-65.. In neonatal care, the presence of variations in delivery is seen in the more common practices ²¹21  Abu Jawdeh EG, O’Riordan M, Limrungsikul A, Bandyopadhyay A, Argus BM, Nakad PE, et al. Methylxanthine use for apnea of prematurity among an international cohort of neonatologists. J Neonatal Perinatal Med 2013; 6:251-6.^,2222  Wibaut B, Saliba E, Rakza T, Lassale B, Hubert H, Wiel E. Enquête nationale sur les pratiques transfusionnelles pendant la période néonatale en vue de l’élaboration de recommandations selon la méthodologie de la Haute Autorité de santé. Transfus Clin Biol 2012; 19:145-7^,2323  Aliaga S, Price W, McCaffrey M, Ivester T, Boggess K, Tolleson-Rinehart S. Practice variation in late-preterm deliveries: a physician survey. J Perinatol 2013; 33:347-51.^,2424  Ersdal HL, Vossius C, Bayo E, Mduma E, Perlman J, Lippert A, et al. A one-day “Helping Babies Breathe” course improves simulated performance but not clinical management of neonates. Resuscitation 2013; 84:1422-7., in addition to those analyzed in this study.

Since 2010, the use of oxygen in healthy newborns, in the delivery room, is being considered unsuitable, and yet this is still done. The same goes for aspiration of upper airways and gastric suction. The medical protocols based on the best available evidences recommend that healthy newborns should be assisted close to their mothers, and do not require being submitted to such procedures ¹1  Perlman JM, Wyllie J, Kattwinkel J, Atkins DL, Chameides L, Goldsmith JP, et al. Part 11: Neonatal resuscitation: 2010 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations. Circulation 2010; 19;122(16 Suppl 2):S516-38.. Notwithstanding, in this study, there was a high proportion of these practices (use of oxygen, upper airways and gastric aspiration) performed in a group of newborns that did not need them. Such high proportions of unwarranted procedures occur in all regions of the country, regardless of the source of payment. In the adjusted analysis, delivery in the Northeastern Region is a protective factor for upper airways aspiration; delivery in a non-capital city protects from gastric suctioning; and being in the Northern and Northeastern regions, and having a vaginal delivery are protective factors from the use of inhaled oxygen. The other exposure factors were not significantly associated to these practices, which shows that these are largely disseminated, and that new available evidences are still unknown by most practitioners.

For many years, training of human resources for the provision of care in the delivery room recommended the use of these practices, which still are largely employed in birthcare. To move away from prevailing techniques and technology is difficult, and more so to change behaviors and practices of health practitioners ¹⁶16  Wennberg J, Gittelsohn. Small area variations in health care delivery. Science 1973 ; 182:1102-8.^,1717  Cabana MD, Rand CS, Powe NR, Wu AW, Wilson MH, Abboud PA, et al. Why don’t physicians follow clinical practice guidelines? A framework for improvement. JAMA 1999; 282:1458-65.. The reasons for non-compliance with good practices were not the subject of this study. However, non-compliance was high, and not related to structural reasons, differently from what is found in most studies on the quality of care ²⁵25  McKeever J, Fleur RS. Overcoming barriers to Baby-Friendly status: one hospital’s experience. J Hum Lact 2012; 28:312-4.^,2626  Pitchforth E, Lilford RJ, Kebede Y, Asres G, Stanford C, Frost J. Assessing and understanding quality of care in a labour ward: a pilot study combining clinical and social science perspectives in Gondar, Ethiopia. Soc Sci Med 2010; 71:1739-48..

Variations in the medical practices have been attributed to a number of factors, among them the option of the individual practitioner, which is known as “practice style” ²⁷27  Mercuri M, Gafni A. Medical practice variations: what the literature tells us (or does not) about what are warranted and unwarranted variations. J Eval Clin Pract 2011; 17:671-7.. Other factors can, however, contribute to these variations, such as characteristics of the patients, socioeconomic aspects, cultural or leadership issues, among others ²⁸28  Davis P, Gribben B, Lay-Yee R, Scott A. How much variation in clinical activity is there between general practitioners? A multi-level analysis of decision-making in primary care. J Health Serv Res Policy 2002; 7:202-8.^,2929  Stano M. Evaluating the policy role of the small area variations and physician practice style hypotheses. Health Policy 1993; 24:9-17.. In this study, for instance, vaginal delivery is significantly protects from the use of inhaled oxygen,; the same goes for births in the Northern and Northeastern regions. Thus, the “practice style” alone would not account for the variations. There was also a high proportion of the use of incubator, which implies separating the mother from the baby, particularly in wealthier areas and populations. This reflects a contradiction between access to best practices and social and economic class: the wealthier the population, the more unwarranted practices were performed. The type of delivery also contributed significantly for separating mother from baby, with vaginal delivery showing a protective effect from separation.

Another important aspect considered in offering the newborn the maternal breast in the delivery room, and the mother having contact with the baby in its first hour of life. Once again, the type of delivery was instrumental for this practice. Newborns from vaginal delivery had a higher chance of being breastfed in the delivery room; the same goes for newborns whose mothers had a companion present in the delivery room, or in hospitals with Baby-Friendly accreditation. Variations in the breastfeeding-in-the-delivery-room practice ranged from 9.8% to 22.8% for the type of birth, and from 11.9% to 24.3% for the presence of a companion in the delivery room. Maternal age, number of previous children, schooling, and source of payment did not influence such practice. Other authors also found a strong association between type of delivery and offering the maternal breast to the baby in the delivery room ³⁰30  Boccolini CS, Carvalho ML, Oliveira MI, Vasconcellos AG. Factors associated with breastfeeding in the first hour of life. Rev Saúde Pública 2011; 45: 69-78.^,3131  Parry JE, Ip DK, Chau PY, Wu KM, Tarrant M. Predictors and consequences ofin-hospital formula supplementation for healthy breastfeeding newborns. J Hum Lact 2013; 29:527-36.. However, differently from the study by Boccolini et al. ³⁰30  Boccolini CS, Carvalho ML, Oliveira MI, Vasconcellos AG. Factors associated with breastfeeding in the first hour of life. Rev Saúde Pública 2011; 45: 69-78., in this investigation there were no differences for this variable in relation to the source of payment (public or private). There is a 10-year gap between the data collection of our study and Boccolini’s ³¹31  Parry JE, Ip DK, Chau PY, Wu KM, Tarrant M. Predictors and consequences ofin-hospital formula supplementation for healthy breastfeeding newborns. J Hum Lact 2013; 29:527-36.. The improvement observed in Brazil regarding this practice is probably due to compliance with the 4^th-step recommendations of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative ³³33  Ministério da Saúde. Pesquisa Nacional de Demografia e Saúde da Criança e da Mulher – PNDS 2006: dimensões do processo reprodutivo e da saúde da criança. Brasília: Ministério da Saúde; 2009. (Série G. Estatística e Informação em Saúde)..

The 4^th step of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative implementation is fulfilled when skin-to-skin contact between newborn and mother occurs within thirty minutes from birth, and breastfeeding takes place within one hour after delivery ³²32  Araújo MFM, Schmitz BAS. Doze anos de evolução da iniciativa hospital amigo da criança no Brasil. Rev Panam Salud Pública 2007; 22:91-9.. In this study, even though the skin-to-skin contact reported was around 28% in the whole country, breastfeeding in the delivery room rates were low, ranging from 11.5% to 22.4% among the regions Brazil. The highest breastfeeding-in-the-delivery-room rates are found in the Southern region (22,4%). The Northeast of the country is the area with the highest number of obstetric beds in hospitals of the public health system accredited by the Baby-Friendly Initiative, ³²32  Araújo MFM, Schmitz BAS. Doze anos de evolução da iniciativa hospital amigo da criança no Brasil. Rev Panam Salud Pública 2007; 22:91-9. and was associated to non-breastfeeding in the delivery room. This was an unexpected finding of our study, as birth in a Baby-Friendly accredited hospital was significantly associated to breastfeeding in the delivery room. However, in the Northeast of the country, only 41.3% of healthy newborns were breastfed in their first hour of life; this means that not only newborns were not breastfed in the delivery room, they were deprived from the maternal breast in their first hour of life. These results differ from those of the 2006 National Survey on Demographics and Health (PNDS 2006) ³³33  Ministério da Saúde. Pesquisa Nacional de Demografia e Saúde da Criança e da Mulher – PNDS 2006: dimensões do processo reprodutivo e da saúde da criança. Brasília: Ministério da Saúde; 2009. (Série G. Estatística e Informação em Saúde).. Even though the methodology of data collection was different, the PNDS found that 43% of newborns were breastfed in the first hour of life, particularly in the countryside, and in the Northern and Northeastern regions of the country ³³33  Ministério da Saúde. Pesquisa Nacional de Demografia e Saúde da Criança e da Mulher – PNDS 2006: dimensões do processo reprodutivo e da saúde da criança. Brasília: Ministério da Saúde; 2009. (Série G. Estatística e Informação em Saúde)..

The variables that were significantly associated to good practices in the delivery room, after adjustment for confounders, were vaginal delivery, birth in a Baby-Friendly accredited hospital, and presence of a companion in the delivery room. Our study found that vaginal delivery warranted most of the good practices investigated: early skin-to-skin contact, offering of maternal breast in the delivery room, breastfeeding in the first hour of life, and rooming-in with the mother. Birth in a Baby-Friendly accredited hospital also favored good practices in relation to skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding, in the adjusted analysis. In 2009, the set of recommendations of the Baby-Friendly Initiative was reviewed by the World Health Organization, and some more comprehensive approaches on good practices that targeted the mother were included ³⁴34  World Health organization, United Nations Children’s Fund. Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: Revised, Updated and Expanded for integrated Care. 2009 http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/files/BFHI_2009_s4.pdf (acessado em 30/Jun/2013).
http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/files/BF... . Some studies have shown an association between Baby-Friendly accreditation and lower proportion of c-sections ³⁵35  Di Mario S, Cattaneo A, Gagliotti C, Voci C, Basevi V. Baby-Friendly Hospitals and Cesarean Section Rate: A Survey of Italian Hospitals. Breastfeed Med. 2013; 8:1-6.^,3636  Prior E, Santhakumaran S, Gale C, Philipps LH, Modi N, Hyde MJ. Breastfeeding after cesarean delivery: a systematic review and meta-analysis of world literature. Am J Clin Nutr 2012; 95:1113-35.. Therefore, the type of delivery (vaginal), and birth in a Baby-Friendly accredited hospital should, together, have a protective effect for the newborn being exposed to good practices. Public payment of birth also favors rooming-in and breast offering in the first hour of life, but not for skin-to-skin contact and breast offering in the delivery room.

One of the limitations of this study is that it did not allow the assessment of the reasons for the non-compliance to good practices or for all the variations in medical practices. Another limitation is that, despite the interaction between delivery in a Baby-Friendly accredited hospital and private source of payment, among all hospitals of the sample only one presented these variables with a distinct care model, with goals associated to the use of good practices in childbirth care; in this case, the environment likely fostered the use of good practices.

To conclude, in Brazil, where most deliveries take place in a hospital, there are great variations in the routine care of healthy newborns immediately after birth. The results of this study show that new guidelines for the care of healthy newborns were not incorporated in the medical practice. Non-compliance is not due to differences in the resources, as the deliveries took place in hospitals where the necessary resources were available.

Acknowledgments

To regional and state coordinators, supervisors, interviewers and crew of the study and the mothers who participated and made this study possible.

References

Publication Dates

History