Objectives: Breastfeeding has positive effects for both, the mother and the infant. The purpose of the study was to examine how cesarean delivery and vaginal delivery influenced subsequent breastfeeding. The study was conducted at the Kırıkkale University Medical School. Material and methods:Breastfeeding outcomes after an elective cesarean delivery and after a planned vaginal delivery were compared. The study included 169 consenting mothers who gave birth to healthy infants (86 cesarean deliveries and 83 vaginal deliveries) between March and September 2001. All cesarean deliveries were performed under regional anesthesia.Results: Elective cesarean delivery was performed at a significantly earlier gestational age as compared to vaginal delivery (p = 0.001). Maternal age in the planned vaginal delivery group was significantly lower (p = 0.003). As for the change in prolactin levels, the results were similar but not statistically significant (p = 0.21). The frequency of breastfeeding per day did not differ significantly between the groups (p = 0.20). However, women after cesarean delivery tended to breastfeed more often than after vaginal delivery (p = 0.003). Mean number of points recorded at the first breastfeeding session, according to the LATCH charting system, was lower in the group after cesarean delivery as compared to vaginal labor. The difference between the average point scores of vaginal delivery and cesarean delivery mothers was found to be meaningful in favor of the women after vaginal delivery (p = 0.05). Conclusions:Elective cesarean section has negative effects on breastfeeding. Our results indicate that cesarean section constitutes a risk factor for delayed lactogenesis.

The aim of the study was to estimate the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) in maternal serum from normal pregnant women and women with pre-eclampsia. Serum concentrations of VEGF and ET-1 were measured in maternal blood in control group (n = 40) and in pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia (n = 40). Results showed that maternal VEGF levels were significantly raised in women with pre-eclampsia (p < 0.001). ET-1 concentration was not significantly different among women with pre-eclampsia compared with that in the control group. It was concluded that an increase in serum VEGF level was demonstrated in pre-eclampsia, suggesting that VEGF is involved in pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. Further studies are needed to determine the serum concentrations of VEGF in pregnant women before the development of pre-eclampsia.

These results show that the perinatal care is fairly improved in Turkey.

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TEMPS-A seems to be an easy and reliable test to evaluate temperament in PCOS patients.