THE IMPACTS OF CAESAREAN SECTION ON BREASTFEEDING AND INITIAL CARE FOR NEWBORN INFANTS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

Introduction: Pregnancy is a unique experience full of new things in the life of a family, especially for the woman who experiences this process intensely. Therefore, the choice of delivery method is one of the crucial decisions to be considered during pregnancy. Despite the tendency to opt for a cesarean section due to its speed, less pain and often due to medical recommendation, it is important to highlight that it can bring significant complications for both the mother and the newborn. Objective: To investigate the impacts of cesarean section on breastfeeding and the first care of the newborn. Methodology: This is an integrative literature review, which had as its guiding question "What are the impacts of cesarean section on breastfeeding and on the first care of the newborn?", which will be carried out in the Virtual Health Library (BVS), through the online databases Scientific Electronic Library Online (SCIELO), Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), using the following descriptors: "childbirth", "breastfeeding", "cesarean section", "newborn", combined with the Boolean operator AND, where complete articles in Portuguese, English and Spanish were included and works that were not in accordance with the proposed theme were excluded. Results: After the initial search with the descriptors, in the different languages, 16 publications were found in BDENF, 41 in MEDLINE and 76 in LILACS. In the second stage, using filters with inclusion and exclusion criteria, the number of articles was reduced to 4 in BDENF, 4 in MEDLINE and 6 in LILACS. After rereading each article, 8 were identified for the preparation of the summary table. Final considerations: This study emphasized in its results that the decision about the method of delivery should always consider the health of the mother and the baby, and cesarean section should only be indicated in situations where the benefits outweigh the risks. Cesarean delivery is linked to several adverse perinatal effects and complications in the health of the newborn, such as prematurity, greater need for intensive care and respiratory problems, in addition to negatively impacting, mainly, the beginning of breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact, factors that are of utmost importance for child development.