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September 2, 2026BMC AnesthesiologyOpen Access

Impact of labor epidural analgesia on lactation onset and breastfeeding continuation: an observational study

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Authors

LHLi HuUnion HospitalBWBeibei WangNanjing Agricultural UniversityXHXinyue HuUniversity of California, Irvine

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Implication

Prospective cohort study reveals labor epidural analgesia does not delay lactation onset and supports early breastfeeding, suggesting pain relief does not impair nursing initiation.

Key Points

  • To determine whether labor epidural analgesia affects the onset of lactation within 48 hours postpartum and influences breastfeeding continuation up to three months.
  • Prospective observational cohort study enrolling 305 healthy term singleton mothers planning vaginal delivery (ChiCTR2200065306), allocated by preference to labor epidural analgesia (n = 154) or non-analgesia (n = 151).
  • Analgesia was administered using lidocaine, ropivacaine, and sufentanil, with inverse probability of treatment weighting via propensity scores applied to balance baseline covariates.
  • Lactation onset was measured within 48 hours postpartum, and exclusive or overall breastfeeding rates were evaluated at 3 days, 6 weeks, and 3 months via interview or telephone.
  • Lactation onset within 48 hours was not significantly associated with labor epidural analgesia (58.5% in the epidural group vs. 61.3% in the non-epidural group; OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.56–1.12, p = 0.19).
  • Epidural analgesia was positively associated with breastfeeding at 3 days (90.3% vs. 82.7%; OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.08–2.98, p = 0.02), exclusive breastfeeding at 6 weeks (62.1% vs. 51.0%; OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.10–2.18, p = 0.01), and any breastfeeding at 6 weeks (93.8% vs. 89.4%; OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.07–3.71, p = 0.03).
  • Beneficial associations with breastfeeding attenuated by 3 months, whereas early initiation of breastfeeding within 30 minutes of delivery was significantly associated with earlier lactation onset.

Cite This Study

Hu et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a97e2d9c562ede874ec73f1https://doi.org/10.1186/s12871-026-04187-y
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1Labour Epidural Analgesia on Maternal and Neonatal Outcome: A Retrospective Observational Study2024
  2. 2Does Early Initiation of Labor Epidural Analgesia Affect Labor Outcomes? A Randomized Clinical Trial2024
  3. 3Outcome of Deliveries Following Labour Epidural Analgesia in a Malaysian Teaching Hospital2024
  4. 4Labor Epidural Analgesia and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Offspring: A Population‐Based Case–Control Study2026 · 1 citations
  5. 5Assessment of awareness and attitudes of pregnant women toward labor epidural analgesia and factors influencing the decision to opt for it: A cross-sectional study2025 · 2 citations