Skin‐to‐skin contact may reduce negative consequences of “the stress of being born”: a study on temperature in newborn infants, subjected to different ward routines in St. Petersburg

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate how different delivery‐ward routines influence temperature in newborn infants. Methods: A total of 176 newborn mother‐infant pairs were included in a randomized study. The babies were kept skin‐to‐skin on the mother's chest (Skin‐to‐skin group), held in their mother's arms, being either swaddled or clothed (Mother's arms group), or kept in a cot in the nursery, being either swaddled or clothed (Nursery group). Temperature was measured in the axilla, on the thigh, back and foot at 15‐min intervals at from 30 to 120 min after birth. Results: During this time period the axilla, back and thigh temperatures rose significantly in all the treatment groups. The foot temperature displayed a significant fall in the babies in the Nursery group and this decrease was greatest in the swaddled babies. In contrast, foot temperature rose in the babies in the Mother's arms group and in particular in babies in the Skin‐to‐skin group. Foot temperature remained high in the Skin‐to‐skin group, whereas the low temperature observed in the Nursery group gradually increased and two days after birth the difference was no longer significant. Conclusion: The results show that delivery‐ward routines influence skin temperature in infants in the postnatal period. Allowing mother and baby the ward routine of skin‐to‐skin contact after birth may be a “natural way” of reversing stress‐related effects on circulation induced during labour.

Breastfeeding profile and practice of Nigerian mothers: a cross-sectional survey

“…3 WHO and UNICEF included rooming practice in their joint statement to maternity units worldwide to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. 26 Rooming-in allows for skin to skin contact and it promotes pre-feeding behavioural instinct in the infant to start sucking the breast by him/herself 27,28 and lactogenesis; 29,30 helps the mother to keep the baby warm 31 and enhances baby's relaxation 32 and a non-crying state. 33 Eighty six point two percent of the mothers in this study practiced EBF.…”

Newborn Body Temprature; Comparative Study to See the Impact on Newborn Body Temperature After Skin Contact of Mother and Newborn v/S Conventional Method

“…Same results showed in the studies of ANOVA and FISHER's. 18 With passage of time raised temperature is noted (DF = 6, F-value = 127.5, p _ 0.0001), and this rise in temperature differs significantly with both groups. (DF = 12, F-value = 5.57, p = 0.0001).…”

“…Other benefits for neonates are stabilization of the newborn's body temperature 11,12 and respiration 13 , heart rate regulation and oxygen saturation consequent to (SSC).…”

Toward a Radically Embodied Neuroscience of Attachment and Relationships?

“…Thus, human parents provide the infant with an essential source of thermoregulation. In fact, skin-to-skin contact (as compared to swaddling in a cloth) leads to less skin temperature reduction just after being born (Bystrova et al, 2003). Specifically, adults help infants stay in a "thermoneutral zone" (i.e., to maintain homeostasis; Cannon, 1929), while simultaneously reducing the net energetic expense of warming the body.…”