After a premature birth, it is important that the parents and the child quickly establish a good relationship. Researchers at Linköping University have examined the relationship between mothers and premature babies who have constant skin-to-skin contact (HHK) throughout the period from birth to hospital discharge. The results show that continuous skin-to-skin contact does not lead to better interaction between mother and child.
Every year around 15 million babies are born prematurely worldwide. Since premature babies often require intensive care, they are separated from their parents, which can have a negative impact on the bond between mother and child.
For parents, this separation can lead to feelings of guilt and emptiness when they are unable to be close to their newborn child. For the child, the loss of closeness to parents is one of the greatest stressors in early life. It is believed that skin-to-skin careon the parent's chest(Kangaroo method) instead of care in an incubator can reduce stress.
“Skin-to-skin contact between parents and baby has been shown to be beneficial for the development of the premature baby. However, there are no clear results regarding its impact on mother-baby interaction. That’s why we wanted to investigate this.” says Charlotte Sahlén Helmer, a doctoral student at Linköping University, Sweden.
In the study, researchers examined the interaction between mothers and premature babies -between the 32nd and 36th weeks. The study was conducted in two Swedish hospitals where parents can be with their child 24 hours a day. Thirty-one families took part. The families were divided into two groups: one in which the mother was to give the premature infant HHK continuously from birth until discharge, and one in which the mother was to give the infant as much or as little HHK as she wanted or could .
After four months, the researchers tracked how the mothers interacted with their premature babies. They found no significant differences in the interaction between the continuous and intermittent skin-to-skin contact groups. With regard to the mother's bond with the child, the researchers were unable to find that skin-to-skin contact had an impact on e.g. B. the mother's acceptance or sensitivity for the child. There was also no correlation between the number of hours of skin-to-skin contact and the quality of the interaction.
“Some people say that skin-to-skin contact automatically leads to a good bond between mother and child. Our study shows that this may not be the case. For those parents who can't hold their child to the breast 24/7, it can be a relief to know that they can still have a good interaction. But these results need to be followed up with further studies,” says Charlotte Sahlén Helmer.
The study is part of a larger project examining the effects of skin-to-skin contact in premature babies.
The study was published in the journal “Advances in Neonatal Care" published.
