Fostering mother-very preterm infant communication during skin-to-skin contact through a modified positioning.

Abstract

BACKGROUND\nSkin-to-skin contact (SSC) has been widely studied in NICU and several meta-analyses have looked at its benefits both for the baby and the parent. Very few studies however have investigated benefit for communication.\n\n\nAIMS\nInvestigate the immediate benefits of Supported Diagonal Flexion (SDF) positioning during SSC on the quality of mother - very-preterm infant communication and to gain insight into how mothers and very-preterm infants communicative behaviours are coordinated in time just a few days after birth.\n\n\nSUBJECTS AND STUDY DESIGN\nMonocentric prospective matched-pair case-control study. Thirty-four mothers and their very preterm infants (27 to 31\xa0+\xa06\xa0weeks GA; mean age at birth 30: weeks GA) were assigned to one of the two SSC positioning, either the Vertical Control (n\xa0=\xa017) or the SDF Intervention positioning (n\xa0=\xa017). Mother and infant were filmed during the first 5\xa0min of SSC, 15\xa0days after the very first SSC (i.e. 18\xa0days after very premature birth, i.e. on average 32.4\xa0weeks GA).\n\n\nOUTCOME MEASURES\nInfants state of consciousness according to the Assessment of Preterm Infants Behavior scale. Onset and duration of infants and mothers smiles, gazes and vocalizations, and their temporal proximity inside a 1-sec time-window.\n\n\nRESULTS\nIn the SDF Intervention Group, very preterm infants vocalized three times more and mothers vocalized, gazed at their baby s face, and smiled more than in the Vertical Control Group. Moreover, in a one-second time-frame, temporal proximity of mother-infant behaviours was greater in the SDF Intervention Group.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nOur study shows that SDF positioning creates more opportunities for mother-infant communication during SSC. SDF positioning fosters a greater multimodal temporal proximity thus supporting a more qualitative mother-infant communication.