Difficulty in Baby Care Activities, Postpartum Fatigue: A Comparison between Rooming-In and Non-Rooming-In Health Care Facilities

Abstract

Introduction:Rooming-in is one of the baby-friendly hospital initiative steps. Rooming-in has positive outcomes for mothers and newborns. However, the effect of rooming-in on postpartum fatigue and the difficulty in baby care activities is hardly investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify and compare difficulty in baby care activities and postpartum fatigue between rooming-in health care facilities and non-rooming-in facilities.Method: A Quasi-experimental design was used. A total of 152postpartum women were recruited from two hospitals in Jordan. Two self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. Independent sample t-test was used to analyze the data. Results:The women in the rooming-in group scored significantly higher level of postpartum fatigue than women in the non-rooming-in group. There were no significant differences between study groups related to difficulty in baby care activities.Conclusions: Postpartum rooming-in practice doesn`t affect the difficulty in baby care activities, but it influences the level of postpartum fatigue. Therefore, the health care providers should consider the level of postpartum fatigue among the women when implementing rooming-in.