The LATCH Scoring System and Prediction of Breastfeeding Duration

Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether LATCH scores assessed by professional staff during in-hospital stays are predictive of breastfeeding at 6 weeks. Participants were English-speaking breastfeeding women, 18 years or older, with healthy singletons. LATCH scores were obtained once every 8 hours on day 1 and daily subsequently until discharge. Data were obtained from hospital charts and telephone interviews on day 4 and week 6 postdelivery. At 6 weeks, 188 of 248 (76%) women were contacted and 66.5% were breastfeeding. LATCH scores were higher among women breastfeeding than those who had weaned. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, a score of 9 or above at 16 to 24 hours was the most discriminate of the 5 time periods examined (area under the ROC curve = 0.72). Furthermore, women who met this criterion were 1.7 times more likely to be breastfeeding at 6 weeks than women with lower scores. The LATCH assessment tool is a modest predictor of breastfeeding duration.