For the newborn, birth weight, gestational age, and 1-minute and 5-minute Apgar scores were recorded. Post-discharge phone calls were made on day four and at week six. Each participant was asked if she was still breastfeeding at the time of the phone call. For data analysis, exclusive and partial were combined as "breastfeeding," whereas token and none were combined as "not breastfeeding."

Telephone interviews could be conducted for 182 (73%) participants on day four and 188 (76%) at six weeks. The results showed that LATCH scores were higher among women breastfeeding than those who had weaned. Using receiver operating characteristic curves, a score of 9 or above at 16 to 24 hours was the most discriminate of the 5 time periods examined. In addition, mothers who met this criterion were 1.7 times more likely to be breastfeeding at six weeks than women with lower scores. The authors concluded that the...
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