The Effect of Prenatal Rooming-In Shared Decision-Making on Postpartum Exclusive Breastfeeding in Taiwan

Background: 24-hour rooming-in is a crucial policy in BFHI for promoting breastfeeding. However, Taiwan’s BFHI certification included prenatal shared decision-making (SDM) for rooming-in until 2018. Prior to this update, maternal rooming-in intentions, related factors to the prenatal SDM decision, and the impact of prenatal SDM implementation on postpartum exclusive breastfeeding were unknown. Methods A retrospective medical review study was conducted. Describe statistics, nonparametric tests, and generalized-estimating equation (GEE) were used. Results Women's comprehension of rooming-in was inadequate compared to breastfeeding. Women who were older, worked full-time, had a graduate degree, and believed that rooming-in interrupted their rest weakened their prenatal rooming-in intention. In GEE, only age (OR = 0.92, 95% CI: [0.89 − 0.97], p  = 0.001), primiparity (OR = 0.50. 95% CI: [0.32, 0.78], p  = 0.002), vaginal delivery (OR = 1.52, 95% CI: [1.001, 2.33], p  = 0.049), and prenatal exclusive breastfeeding intention (OR = 3.33, 95% CI: [2.08, 5.33], p  < .001) were related to postpartum exclusive breastfeeding, not prenatal rooming-in intention. Conclusion Prenatal SDM ensures autonomy for women and their families with respect to