Influence of Birth Methods on Mother-Infant Bonding: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Introduction: The process through which a woman and her child develop a close emotional attachment is known as woman-child bonding. This is essential to a child's early development and has been linked to a number of advantages for both mothers and children.This study aims to find out the relationship between a mother's postpartum bonding and the delivery method (csection or vaginal).

Methods: A descriptive comparative study was conducted among 240 postpartum womens at primary health care centers in Babylon city , Iraq. Participants aged 16-45 years in the 6 weeks after delivery . Data were collected using the validated (postpartum bondig questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS version 23.0. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including Kruskal-Wallis tests, Mann-Whitney U Test were employed to evaluate associations, with significance set at p<0.05.

Results: The study revealed using weighted scores categorized into three levels: low, moderate, and high. Among mothers who underwent normal delivery, 817% had high bonding scores (mean ± SD = 91.67 ± 18.14). Similarly, for mothers who delivered by C/S, 74.2% had high bonding scores (mean ± SD = 84.38 ± 21.166).

Conclusions:  The findings from this study indicate that mothers who underwent normal delivery reported stronger positive bonding with their infants compared to those who had caesarean sections. While both groups exhibited high levels of bonding, the mothers with normal deliveries had significantly higher scores on positive bonding indicators