The effect of abdominal binder use on postpartum pain, bleeding, and breastfeeding success in cesarean delivery women

This study aims to determine the effect of abdominal binder use on postpartum pain, bleeding, and breastfeeding success in cesarean delivery women. The target population of the study, which was designed as a randomized controlled intervention, was composed of women who had a cesarean section in the gynecology clinic of a training and research hospital in Turkey between the 22nd of September 2020 and 19th of March 2021. The study was completed with a total of 128 women (64 women in the intervention group and 64 women in the control group) who met the inclusion criteria. Data were collected through the Socio-demographic Form, the "Postpartum Pain, Analgesics Need, Puerperal Bleeding and Uterus Follow-up Form", and the "Breastfeeding Success Follow-up Form". The amount of bleeding was measured using digital microbalance; the pain was assessed using the "Visual Analogue Scale" (VAS), and breastfeeding success was assessed using the "LATCH Breastfeeding Assessment Tool". The statistical significance level was accepted as p<0,05 in all analyasis. The results showed that the women in the intervention group had significantly lower cesarean incision pain (VAS) scores between the 5thand 48th hours (p<0,001). Besides, abdominal area pain (VAS) scores were significantly lower between the 4th and 48th hours (p<0,001). On the other hand, the amount of bleeding in the 24th and 48th hours and the amount of total puerperal bleeding were significantly lower (p<0,001). Hemoglobin and hematocrit values of the intervention group in the postpartum 6th and 24th hours were found to be significantly higher (p<0,05). In addition, LATCH breastfeeding scores of the intervention group were significantly higher between the 2nd and 48th hours (p<0,001). The use of an abdominal binder was found to have effects on the postpartum pain score, amount of bleeding, and breastfeeding success in women who had a cesarean section.