When a child is born prematurely, it is most often placed in an incubator to keep it warm and protect it from certain viruses and bacteria. Thursday, May 27, 2021, in the New England Journal of Medicine, a study published shows that skin to skin would, in certain circumstances, be even more effective.
You have probably already heard of this special moment between mom (or dad) and her baby. Skin-to-skin skin care, also called the “kangaroo method”, has become a treatment in its own right in many maternity hospitals. Its practice is simple, it suffices to place the infant from his first moments of naked life (or in diaper) against the chest of his mom or dad.
In addition to being a special moment and filled with softness, skin to skin has multiple benefits for your baby:
- better regulation of body temperature,
- exchange of bacteria for better immunity,
- regulation of heart rate and breathing,
- reduced risk of hypoglycemia,
- stimulation of the senses,
- strengthening of the parent-child bond (induced by the release of oxytocin, known as the “attachment hormone”)
From now on, skin to skin is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for all premature infants as soon as their state of health is considered stable in the neonatal department.
However, at birth some newborns weigh no more than 2kg and the expected stabilization may take longer than expected. However, “About 75% of deaths occur before the infant has been judged sufficiently stable”, emphasizes Dr Nils Bergman, doctor and researcher in the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health at Karolinska Institutet (Sweden).
An in-depth study
In order to assess the benefits of this kangaroo method in infants weighing only 1 to 1.8 kg, researchers at the Karolinska Institutet conducted work with five hospitals in Ghana, India, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania. .
The teams from the different establishments have previously received training in neonatal care as well as equipment (in particular to measure the oxygen levels of babies and provide assisted ventilation) in order to ensure the practice of similar care.
The 3,211 babies studied were separated into two groups. Babies in the first group were immediately put in contact with their mothers in specialized care units, 17 hours a day during their first three days of life. For their part, the children of the second group (control group) were taken care of in a more traditional way, with only an hour and a half of daily contact after their first 24 hours of life.
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The result ?
Comparing the mortality rate within the two groups, the researchers observed a mortality of 12% in babies in the first group compared to 15.7% in the control group. In other words, babies having benefited from skin to skin over a long period of time would have 25% less risk of dying during their first month of life.
Different hypotheses are put forward to explain these results. “Because mother and baby are in close contact from birth, the baby is more likely to be colonized by the mother’s protective microbiome and more likely to receive early breastfeeding. There is also less manipulation of the baby by other people, thus reducing the risk of infection. The constant monitoring of the infant by the mother, more frequent monitoring of the infant’s blood sugar and the absence of stress associated with mother-child separation may also have helped reduce mortality ”, can we read in the publication.
“This study shows that kangaroo maternity care has the potential to save many more lives if started immediately after birth, a finding relevant to countries of all income levels. ” Dr Rajiv Bahl, responsible for research and development in maternal and newborn health at WHO and coordinator of study