Abstract
Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants.
Highlights
skin-to-skin contact (SSC) women were more likely than women with standard contact to be breastfeeding at one to four months post birth, though there was some uncertainty in this estimate due to risks of bias in included trials (average risk ratio (RR) 1.24, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07 to 1.43; participants = 887; studies = 14; I = 41%; GRADE: moderate quality)
SSC women breast fed their infants longer, though data were limited (mean di erence (MD) 64 days, 95% CI 37.96 to 89.50; participants = 264; studies = six; GRADE:low quality); this result was from a sensitivity analysis excluding one trial contributing all of the heterogeneity in the primary analysis
Women in the SCC group had higher mean scores for breastfeeding e ectiveness, with moderate heterogeneity (IBFAT (Infant Breastfeeding Assessment Tool) score mean difference (MD) 2.28, 95% CI 1.41 to 3.15; participants = 384; studies = four; I = 41%)
Summary
The intimate contact inherent in this place (habitat) evokes neuro-behaviors ensuring fulfillment of basic biological needs. This time frame immediately post birth may represent a 'sensitive period' for programming future physiology and behavior. Routine mother-infant separation shortly a er birth is unique to the 20th century. This practice diverges from evolutionary history, where neonatal survival depended on close and virtually continuous maternal-infant skin-to-skin contact (SSC). In many industrialized societies separating the newborn from its mother soon a er birth has become common practice. And importantly, the experimental intervention in studies with all other mammals is to separate newborns from their mothers.
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