Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
Premature infants who received more skin-to-skin contact in the NICU showed better brain development than those who received less or none, a groundbreaking Australian study found.
The study identified improvements in brain microstructure, specifically in three key pathways related to emotional regulation and stress response: the cingulum, anterior thalamic radiations (ATR), and uncinate fasciculus.
Using MRI data, researchers tracked changes in brain pathways, discovering that skin-to-skin care significantly improved brain diffusion and anisotropy in some areas, indicating enhanced brain development.
Even modest skin-to-skin care (around 60 minutes a day) was linked to neurodevelopmental benefits. The study suggests that every bit of contact counts for these fragile infants.
The findings point to a direct effect of skin-to-skin care on brain development, underscoring the importance of early, consistent contact between parents and preterm infants.
The research tracked 88 preterm infants with an average gestational age of 29 weeks, examining how their brains developed in response to varying amounts of skin-to-skin contact.
Despite the benefits, many families are not providing enough skin-to-skin care. On average, infants received skin-to-skin care every 2-3 days for about an hour, far below the recommended amount.
Lead researcher Dr. Katherine Travis hopes the study will drive policy changes, advocating for better support systems to enable more skin-to-skin care in NICUs and homes.
The study contributes to a growing body of evidence suggesting that skin-to-skin care has long-term benefits for preterm infants, including improved cognitive outcomes later in life.