[How do mothers experience skin contact with their very immature (gestational age 27-30 weeks), only days old premature infants?].
BACKGROUND
Mothers are offered skin-to-skin contact with their preterm infants with the intention to promote bonding. But it is not known if the mother of a very immature fragile infant perceives skin-to-skin contact as a helpful intervention or a stressful situation.


METHODS
Mothers of singleton preterm infants (gestational age 27-30 weeks) began skin-to-skin contact as soon as the infant was breathing spontaneously. They prospectively documented frequency and duration of skin-to-skin contact, they rated their anxiety or confidence and their attachment to the infant and described their observations of the infant daily for 14 days in a semi-structured questionnaire.


RESULTS
17 of 25 mother-infant-pairs in the observation period fulfilled the entry criteria, 14 questionnaires about 196 skin-to-skin periods could be analyzed (median gestational age 27.5 weeks (27-30), median birth weight 1130 g (695-1300). Skin-to-skin contact began at a median age of 3 days [2-7]. The median duration of the skin-to-skin periods was increased at maternal request from 60 to 120 minutes between day 1 and 14 (p = 0.004). Even then 21% of the mothers wanted a still longer duration of skin-to-skin contact. Mothers reported anxiety only 5 times. 82% of the mothers reported positive own feelings during skin-to-skin contact and 78% felt that skin-to-skin contact increased their attachment to their infant.


CONCLUSIONS
The mothers studied perceived skin-to-skin contact with their very immature infants as a positive and helpful intervention. Skin-to-skin contact took place regularly and for increasing periods of time.
Bauer
K
K
Kinderklinik der Freien Universität Berlin, Universitätsklinikum Benjamin Franklin. kbauer@cipmail.ukbf.fu-berlin.de
Uhrig
C
C
Versmold
H
H
D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment