Worldwide prevalence of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact after vaginal birth: A systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundDespite the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation for immediate skin-to-skin contact (SSC) after birth, separation of mothers and infants seems to be common practice in many hospitals. It is unknown how common the practice of SSC is worldwide. Therefore, we aimed to determine the reported prevalence of SSC for healthy mothers and infants immediately after normal birth.MethodsWe systematically searched CINAHL, Medline, ProQuest Central, PubMed and the Cochrane Library for articles published between January 2007 and October 2017 using the keywords "kangaroo care" or "skin to skin contact" or "breastfeeding initiation" or "breast crawl" or "maternal infant contact" or "maternal newborn contact" or "baby friendly hospital initiative" or "ten steps for successful breastfeeding”.ResultsAfter an initial screening of 5266 records, 84 full text articles were assessed for eligibility, and 35 of these met the inclusion criteria. The studies were from 28 countries representing all six WHO world regions. There was a wide range in the practice of SSC for mother-infant dyads around the world: from 1% to 98%. Only 15 studies clearly defined SSC. Most of the studies were from high-income countries, and these reported higher rates of SSC than studies from low and middle-income countries.ConclusionThere was a great heterogeneity in the definition of SSC as well as study designs, which makes cross-county comparison difficult. National studies reporting SSC rates are lacking. Future studies and guidelines to enhance SSC practice should include a standardised set of indicators and measurement tools that document SSC starting time and duration of SSC.

Measuring coverage of WHO recommended Essential Newborn Care practices in the squatter settlements of Islamabad Capital Territory in Pakistan.

“…Drying the newborn within ten minutes after birth was reported by 68.8% of the respondents, while 57% of the newborn mother duo had skin to skin contact within ten minutes of birth. Skin to skin contact is an evidence-based intervention for the maintenance and regulation of body temperature of the newborn, which serves as a catalyst for breastfeeding by ensuring release of oxytocin in the rst hour (36). Another worrying nding is the onethird babies who were bathed within the rst 6 hours of birth, which is contrary to international guidance.…”

Breastfeeding and the Risk of Infant Illness in Asia: A Review

“…Skin to skin contact between mother and infant within 30-60 min of birth is recommended by UNICEF and WHO and has been shown to improve breastfeeding rates [119]. A review of this practice found considerable variation in the implementation of this practice with rates as low as 9.6% in the Philippines and up to 91% in Singapore [120]. Rates of early contact were much lower in infants delivered by caesarean section in Asia, but the difference was smaller in some Australian studies.…”

Análisis interino de un ensayo clínico aleatorizado sobre contacto piel a piel temprano versus inmediato en recién nacidos de término

“…4 A pesar de sus beneficios, se conoce que el CPP se practica poco, 6 principalmente por falta de estandarización de la intervención, ausencia de guías de manejo y costos asociados a esta intervención. [7][8][9] Asimismo, faltan estudios para determinar qué momento del CPP (inmediato vs. temprano) es más efectivo y seguro. Se han reportado complicaciones asociadas al CPP como colapso súbito y apnea, con incidencias entre 2.6 y cinco casos por 100,000 nacimientos, además de muerte (hasta 1.1 muertes por 100,000 nacidos vivos).…”