Risk Factors for Early Weight Loss in Breastfed, Early Term and Term Newborns

Abstract Background: Infants lose some of their birth weight before hospital discharge. This loss, which is accepted as “physiological” up to a certain level (5-7%), is supplemented with food in early period for infants with over 7% of loss. While food supplementation does not have the benefits of mother’s milk, it may cause low breastfeeding success in the long run. In newborns, the identification of risk factors affecting weight loss in a few days following birth will increase exclusive breastfeeding success. The aim of this study is to evaluate the risk factors that cause weight loss in newborns before hospital discharge. Methods: Weight loss in infants born in a private trust hospital of Koc University American Hospital between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2014 was evaluated. The hospital records of 3812 babies who completed the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The variables giving meaningful results in binary tables were evaluated with “Multivariate Logistic Regression”.Results: The increase in maternal age, Caesarean section birth, primiparity, female gender and being early term were statistically significant risk factors for early weight loss in newborns.