What is skin-to-skin care?
Skin-to-skin care is when the parent – usually the mother – holds the baby directly against their bare chest. The practice is hugely popular in neonatal care, especially for preterm babies, who are placed on the parent’s chest for long periods of time.
Skin-to-skin contact: benefits for infants
Skin-to-skin contact not only supports thermoregulation and stabilises vital parameters, but it also enhances bonding and promotes the emotional wellbeing of parent and child.
What's more, in preterm infants, this contact promotes more harmonious and complete white matter maturation in the brain, with particular benefits in brain areas tied to stress, memory and emotional regulation.
A study published in Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, has explored the ins and outs of this, producing some pretty convincing evidence, although further investigations will be needed to provide definitive proof.
New study: skin-to-skin care and white matter in the brain o
The study was conducted by paediatricians at Burke Neurological Institute, an affiliate of the prestigious Cornell University (New York), who closely monitored 88 preterm babies, born on average at 29 weeks, with an average weight of 1.2 kilograms. These infants then stayed in hospital for approximately two months, or until what would have been the 40th and final week of gestation.
“Skin-to-skin contact in preterm infants has been shown to have many benefits, with previous studies linking it to improved bonding, sleep, heart and lung function and growth, as well as reduced pain and stress,” said Katherine E. Travis, lead author of the study. “Our findings in infants born very preterm suggest skin-to-skin care may also play a role in shaping early brain development.”
The infants in the study had sessions with their parents every day lasting 70 minutes on average, with an average of 24 minutes of daily skin-to-skin contact (with the mother in 73% of cases).
Positive results confirmed by MRI scans
Each baby received an MRI scan of the brain before being discharged from the hospital. The images revealed how the white matter was developing, showing that the longer the skin-to-skin sessions had lasted, the more the infants showed favourable markers of development in two key brain regions: the cingulum and the anterior thalamic radiations.
The cingulum is a ring-shaped bundle of nerve fibres located above the “corpus callosum”. It connects the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes and plays a key role in processing emotions and cognitive functions, forming part of the so-called limbic system.
The anterior thalamic radiations, on the other hand, are a set of nerve fibres connecting the thalamic nuclei to the cerebral cortex, especially in the frontal and temporal brain areas, transmitting sensory, motor and emotional information, and playing a vital role in memory and learning.
The positive impact on white matter development was shown to be significant even after accounting for variables that could influence brain development, including gestational age at birth, the family’s socioeconomic status and how often the parents visited.
Improving overall brain health
For Katherine E. Travis, these results are another important piece in the puzzle of understanding the brain of preterm infants: “White matter development is sensitive to a preterm infant’s experience while in the hospital,” she said. “Skin-to-skin care not only provides preterm infants with family connections through bonding, it may also be encouraging new connections within the brain itself, improving a baby’s brain health overall.”
As with any study, this research has its limitations: it was conducted at a single hospital and involved a relatively small number of infants. The researchers highlighted that further research will be needed, but that an important “window” has been opened.
Very preterm babies are more prone to a number of potential issues, both physical, such as incomplete lung development, and neurological and cognitive.
That’s another reason why it’s crucial to find methods for studying and fostering harmonious brain development in these infants.
