Long-term effect on mother-infant behaviour of extra contact during the first hour post partum. II. A follow-up at three months.
Primiparous mothers and their infants who had an extra 15-20 minutes' suckling and skin to skin contact during the first hour after delivery, behaved differently at 36 hours post partum compared with a control group without this extra contact. The present study is a 3-month follow-up of these mothers and infants by means of direct observation of mother-infant free play and a personal interview with the mothers. Mothers in the extra contact group spent more time kissing and looking en face at their infants; these infants smiled more often and cried less frequently. A greater proportion of the mothers with extra contact were still breast feeding at 3 months. The influence of extra contact on behaviour was more pronounced in boy-mother than in girl-mother pairs.
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010298:Parity; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012649:Self Concept; D013391:Sucking Behavior; D013997:Time Factors