Interruptions to breastfeeding dyads on postpartum day 1 in a university hospital.

Objective: To describe interruptions (door openings and telephone calls) to breastfeeding dyads on postpartum day 1.

Design: A descriptive design of continuous observations of persons entering the mother's room plus record of phone calls from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on postpartum day 1.

Setting: Single bedded postpartum rooms in a tertiary level university hospital in northern Midwest United States.

Participants: Twenty-nine healthy mother-infant dyads of singleton birth who intended to breastfeed.

Outcome Measures: Frequency and duration of interruptions, number of episodes and duration of time alone, frequency and duration of breastfeeding sessions, and maternal perceptions of the day's activities and time with her newborn.

Results: Recorded interruptions totaled 1,555, yielding a mean of 54 interruptions each averaging 17 minutes in length. Half of the 24 episodes of time alone per dyad were less than or equal to 9 minutes; most commonly only 1 minute long. All mothers breastfed 2 to 10 times with an average duration of 20 minutes.

Conclusion: Many interruptions occurred and were perceived to negatively influence breastfeeding.