Labor and birth care practices associated with exclusive breastfeeding at discharge.

Only 30.8% of eligible women and 24.5% of all women cared for during the same period responded, so the sample was self-selected and may not represent the wider maternity population. Data were self-reported after birth and reflected participants' perceptions of the care they received, so information and recall bias are possible. The questionnaire was electronic, which may have excluded women with limited internet access. No sociodemographic data or data on clinical and obstetric complications were collected, so associations could not be adjusted for potential confounders. The study was conducted in one Baby-Friendly hospital in southern Brazil during the pandemic, so the findings may not apply to other settings. Many labor, birth, and breastfeeding-support practices occurred together, so the contribution of any single practice cannot be separated.

No external funding was received. The study was carried out with support from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - Brazil (CAPES), Financing Code 001.

Do not read the higher exclusive breastfeeding rates as proof that privacy, skin-to-skin contact, feeding cue guidance, or positioning assistance caused exclusive breastfeeding. The study was cross-sectional, used a self-selected online questionnaire, and did not adjust for sociodemographic or obstetric factors, so it can only report associations. Many practices occurred together, so the contribution of any single practice cannot be separated.