Maternal assessment of recommendations on the newborn infant care upon hospital discharge.

INTRODUCTION It is common for pediatricians to provide parents with information on how to look after their newborn baby at the time of discharge from the hospital. The objectives of this study are to determine the level of satisfaction regarding such information, to be aware of what additional information parents would have liked to receive, and to establish which factors may impact any additional information request. POPULATION AND METHODS Descriptive study evaluating the opinion of women at 5-15 days post- partum regarding such information. RESULTS A hundred and seventy-six surveys were collected. Of these, 68.8% respondents had attended childbirth classes. Sixty-one point four percent referred to have looked for advice on the newborn infant care, mostly on the Internet and in books. Seventy-four point four percent considered that the information provided sufficed. Most commonly, information was requested on breastfeeding (33.3%), bottle feeding (20.0%), and umbilical cord care (11.1%). Mothers who requested more information attended childbirth classes more frequently (significant) and searched for information during pregnancy (not significant). In addition, this group significantly assigned a lower score to the opportunity to ask questions and the level of trust on the pediatrician. CONCLUSIONS Maternal satisfaction regarding the information provided is adequate; and most mothers do not request additional information. The topic on which they most frequently request additional information is breastfeeding. The decision to request information does not depend on maternal age, maternal education, employment condition, or having other children. Likewise, mothers have questions that are not satisfactorily answered during childbirth classes.