Mother-infant relationship; effect of mode of delivery

Abstract

Registration of mother—infant relationship at the maternity ward, maternal attitudes, feeding behavior and growth to 1 month of age were studied in relation to mode of delivery. In all, 126 mothers and infants were studied, 53 elective Caesarean section (CS), 28 after vaginal breech and 45 controls after vertex presentation at full-term. Mothers in the elective CS group, especially those with a lower educational level, had significantly more doubts about their capacity to care for their babies at the maternity ward when compared with the other groups. After 1 month however, the elective CS mothers were significantly more caretaking for their babies than the breech group. the feeding behavior in the maternity ward and growth to 1 month of age did not differ between the groups.