Skin-to-skin holding in the neonatal intensive care unit influences maternal milk volume.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of early initiation of skin-to-skin (STS) holding on lactation, we compared 24-hour milk volumes of mothers of ventilated low birth weight infants in an STS group to mothers in a non-STS control group.


METHODS
Mean 24-hour milk volumes at 2, 3, and 4 weeks after delivery of mothers participating in STS holding were compared with those of a retrospective control group from the 12-month period immediately preceding the introduction of STS holding in the neonatal intensive care unit. A repeated-measures analysis of variance adjusting for baseline volumes (1 week after delivery) was used to evaluate the difference in milk volumes between STS and control groups.


RESULTS
Sixteen mothers initiated STS holding during the 2-month study period. Eight mothers met study criteria by initiating STS holding during the first 4 weeks after delivery. During a 2-week period the study group had a strong linear increase in milk volume in contrast to no indicative change of the control group's milk volume.


CONCLUSIONS
STS holding of low birth weight infants initiated in the early intensive care phase can result in a significant increase in maternal milk volume, thereby overcoming the frequently seen insufficient lactation experienced by these mothers.
Hurst
N M
NM
Section of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA.
Valentine
C J
CJ
Renfro
L
L
Burns
P
P
Ferlic
L
L
D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007224:Infant Care; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D007774:Lactation; D012121:Respiration, Artificial