Key fact: The skin-to-skin contact (SSC) with parents stimulates hormones in premature infants, which are linked to mother-infant attachment and stress. Also, it may further increase parents’ engagement level with their babies. Objective of the study: To investigate the link between parental engagement and salivary oxytocin and cortisol levels for parents during the SSC intervention. Study Details: This pilot study involved 28 preterm infants with around 33 weeks of gestational age.
Infants underwent episodes of SSC on two consecutive days with both the parents . The levels of oxytocin, which is linked to maternal-infant attachment; and cortisol, the stress-related hormone was measured through saliva samples from infants and parents. Parents completed the " PREEMI " (Parent Risk Evaluation and Engagement Model and Instrument) questionnaire designed to calculate attachment between…
