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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Mar;109(3):518-526.
doi: 10.1111/apa.14975. Epub 2019 Sep 16.

Delivery room skin-to-skin contact for preterm infants-A randomized clinical trial

Katrin Mehler  1 , Eva Hucklenbruch-Rother  2 , Patricia Trautmann-Villalba  3 , Ingrid Becker  4 , Bernhard Roth  1 , Angela Kribs  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Delivery room skin-to-skin contact for preterm infants-A randomized clinical trial

Katrin Mehler et al. Acta Paediatr. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the effects of 60 minutes delivery room skin-to-skin contact (DR-SSC) compared with 5 minutes visual contact (VC) on mother-child interaction (MCI), salivary cortisol, maternal depression, stress and bonding at 6 months corrected age.

Methods: A single-centre randomized controlled trial conducted in a German level III NICU. Eighty-eight preterm infants (25-32 weeks of gestational age) were randomized after initial stabilization to either 60 minutes DR-SSC or 5 minutes VC. Forty-five infants were allocated to DR-SSC, 43 to VC.

Results: Delivery room skin-to-skin contact dyads showed a higher quantity of maternal motoric (18 vs 15, P = .030), infant's vocal (7 vs 5, P = .044) and motoric (20 vs 15, P = .032) responses. Moreover, the combined score of maternal and infant responsive behaviour was higher (86 vs 71, P = .041) in DR-SSC dyads. DR-SSC mothers had lower risk of both, early postpartum depression (15% vs 45%, P = .003) and impaired bonding (Score 3 vs 5, P = .031).

Conclusion: In addition to regular intermittent kangaroo mother care, DR-SSC promotes MCI and decreases risk of maternal depression and bonding problems. Thus, DR-SSC may have positive effects on preterm development.

Keywords: mother-infant bonding; premature infant; skin-to-skin contact.

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References

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