Premature baby skin-to-skin contact with parents benefical, Melbourne study finds

SKIN-to-skin contact with their parents is perfectly safe and beneficial for premature babies, a world-first Melbourne study has found.

SKIN-to-skin contact with their parents is perfectly safe and beneficial for premature babies, a world-first Melbourne study has found.

The benefits of such contact to babies, for their bonding and development, have long been known.

But there has also long been concern, from doctors and parents, about the advisability of removing pre-term babies from humidicribs.

Babies born months premature are so tiny their limbs can slip through their parents’ wedding rings as though they are hula hoops, and skin can be translucent.

Premature Baby Ziggy, 36 weeks, is cuddled by his mother Jessica Holland at the Royal Women's Hospital. Picture: David Caird

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But now a Royal Women’s Hospital study has examined outcomes for 40 babies, born at 26 to 29 weeks’ gestation, over their first two weeks while on breathing support.

Heart rate, body temperature and oxygen levels were measured while the babies lay on a parent’s bare chest and during the time they spent in the incubator.

The results, published today in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood — Fetal and Neonatal Edition, show no significant differences in those measures between when the baby was in the crib as compared with when held by parents.

First-time mum Jessie Holland initially feared to hold Ziggy, who weighed just 1.2kg when born at 29 weeks and six days, because of his size and breathing mask.

“I knew I really wanted to take him out, but I was terrified as to whether it was the best thing for him,” she said.

“But the nurses encouraged it as soon as they thought it was the best thing for him and me. It’s really made me feel like a mum.”

Premature baby Ziggy, 36 weeks, is cuddled by his parents Matt and Jessica Holland at the Royal Women's Hospital. Picture: David Caird

Neonatologist and lead researcher Laila Lorenz said the finding would give neonatal staff and parents important reassurance that premature babies could get the benefits of skin-to-skin contact — known as kangaroo care — enjoyed by other babies.

“Term infants breastfeed much better when they are out (of their cot) for skin-to-skin contact for a long time,” she said. “They grow faster, so they put on more weight.

“They have fewer infections and they are discharged earlier than infants that are only in the incubator.

“We know how important to bonding this is,” she said.

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