Higher quality mother-infant interaction seen at 4 months for those with immediate skin-to-skin contact after very preterm birth<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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TUESDAY, Dec. 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Immediate parent skin-to-skin contact (SSC) after very preterm birth is beneficial for the mother-infant relationship, according to a study published online Nov. 30 in JAMA Network Open<\/em>.<\/p>\n Siri Lilliesk \u00b6ld, R.N., from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues examined the effect of immediate SSC at birth for very preterm infants on mother-infant interaction quality at 4 months of corrected age in a secondary analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial. Seventy-one infants and 56 mothers were included in the analysis; 37 infants were allocated to standard care and 34 to SSC with either parent after birth.<\/p>\n The researchers found that fathers provided more SSC than mothers during the first six hours after birth, with a median of 3.25 and 0.75 hours, respectively. There was a significant difference observed in one of five Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment subscales (subscale 3: infant positive affect, communicative and social skills); higher quality mother-infant interaction was seen in the SSC group at 4 months (Cohen d<\/em> = 0.67). When adjusting for primiparity, child sex, and observational setting, this effect remained significant.<\/p>\n “These findings support the existence of a sensitive period after very preterm birth, during which close contact between parent and infant may induce a long-term positive effect on the parent-infant relationship,” the authors write.<\/p>\n