Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov;40(10):2256-2260.
doi: 10.12669/pjms.40.10.9275.

The effect of baby touch on premature infants

Qiuying Du  1 , Hongbin Zhu  2 , Man Guo  3 , Qingqing Yang  4 , Huichan Yang  5 , Yanfei Ma  6
Affiliations

The effect of baby touch on premature infants

Qiuying Du et al. Pak J Med Sci. 2024 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: Premature infants require special attention during nursing. This study aimed to explore the effects of baby touch on the growth, immunity, sleep and communication in premature infants.

Methods: This was a retrospective study. A total of 64 premature infants with a gestational age of 30-36 weeks were selected at Maternity & Child Care Center of Qinhuangdao from June 2022 to May 2023, and randomly divided into experimental group and control group. The control group received routine comprehensive nursing care for newborns, while the experimental group was additionally treated with touch intervention using the international standard touch method. The effects of the three months touch on the growth and development, immunological function, sleep quality, and emotional communication of the premature infants were observed.

Results: No statistically significant differences were found in gender, gestational age, birth weight, birth length, or head circumference at birth between the two groups (p> 0.05). In the third month, the increases in body weight, body length and head circumference were significantly more obvious, the immunological function indicators including CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, IgG, IgA and IgM were all significantly higher, the sleep time and sleep quality were both significantly superior, and the interaction time and intimacy with parents were significantly superior in the experimental group compared with the control group, with statistically significant differences (p< 0.05).

Conclusion: Baby touch can promote growth and development, strengthen immunological function, improve sleep quality and enhance the emotional communication abilities of premature infants, and help them better adapt to the environment and grow.

Keywords: Emotional communication; Growth and development; Immunological function; Premature infant; Sleep quality; Touch.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None.

References

    1. Walani SR. Global burden of preterm birth. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2020;150(1):31–33. doi:10.1002/ijgo.13195. - PubMed
    1. Cobo T, Kacerovsky M, Jacobsson B. Risk factors for spontaneous preterm delivery. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2020;150(1):17–23. doi:10.1002/ijgo.13184. - PubMed
    1. Piersigilli F, Van Grambezen B, Hocq C, Danhaive O. Nutrients and Microbiota in Lung Diseases of Prematurity:The Placenta-Gut-Lung Triangle. Nutrients. 2020;12(2):469. doi:10.3390/nu12020469. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Asadi S, Bloomfield FH, Harding JE. Nutrition in late preterm infants. Semin Perinatol. 2019;43(7):151160. doi:10.1053/j.semperi.2019.06.008. - PubMed
    1. Shim SY, Cho SJ, Park EA. Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 18-24 Months of Corrected Age in Very Low Birth Weight Infants with Late-onset Sepsis. J Korean Med Sci. 2021;36(35):e205. doi:10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e205. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources