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Objective: To describe the type of newborn feeding in public and private institutions and to investigate its relationship with health practices during delivery and in the puerperium and sociodemographic characteristics., Methods: Three hundred and forty-seven representative binomials mother - child of births that occurred in public and private maternity wards in the city of Cordoba, Argentina, were studied. Mothers were interviewed between 24 to 48 hours after delivery. By means of logistic regression analysis the association between health care practices and the type of newborn feeding in public and private institutions was studied, controlling for the effect of sociodemographic and perinatal factors. Statistical analysis was performed using logistic regression, odds ratio, and 95%CI., Results: Of the total, 60.4% newborns in public institutions and 2.9% in private institutions were exclusively breastfed. In the public institutions, the risk of partial breastfeeding in the immediate postpartum was significantly higher in children who were not initially fed with mother's milk [odds ratio (OR)=149; confidence interval (CI): 95%: 16.7-1332], the first mother-child contact was delayed for more than 45 minutes (OR:4.43; IC 95%: 1.02-19.20) and mother's intention was to breastfeed her child for less than 6 months (OR: 5.80; IC: 95% 1.32-25.52); and in private institutions when children were not initially fed with mother's milk (OR: 9.88; IC 95%: 1.07-91.15)., Conclusions: Labor and postpartum care does not comply with the current recommendations and it affects the type of feeding regardless of other factors studied.