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Evidence summaries

Early Skin-to-Skin Contact for Mothers and Their Healthy Newborn Infants

Early skin-to-skin contact appears to have beneficial effects on breastfeeding outcomes. Level of evidence: "B"

A Cochrane review (abstract [Abstract], review [Abstract]) included 69 studies with a total of 7 290 participants (mother-infant dyads). Early skin-to-skin contact (SSC) increased exclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge to one month postbirth (RR 1.36, 95% CI 1.19 to 1.56; I²=62%; 12 studies; n=1556) and at 6 weeks to 6 months postbirth (RR 1.38, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.74; I²87%; 11 studies; n=1135). Skin-to-skin contact increased infants' blood glucose levels (3 studies, 144 newborns) and may improve their breathing and heart rate (2 studies, 81 newborns).

A meta-analysis 2 included 8 trials with a total of 1009 participants. The effects of mother-infant SSC on exclusive breastfeeding was statistically significant [odds ratio (OR) 2.19; 95% CI 1.6 to 2; p<0.001]. In the subgroup analysis, the normal vaginal delivery group showed OR 2.45 (95% CI 1.76 to 3.35; p<0.001), the cesarean delivery group OR 1.44 (95% CI 0.78 to 2.65; p=0.24), the results for the duration of exclusive breastfeeding as of the discharge time up to 3 months were OR 2.47 (95% CI 1.76 to 3.48; p<0.001), and the results for the 3 to 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding were OR 1.71 (95% CI 1.05 to 2.78; p=0.030).

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (unclear blinding of outcome assessors).

    References

    • Moore ER, Brimdyr K, Blair A, et al. Immediate or early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2025;10(10):CD003519. [PubMed]
    • Karimi FZ, Miri HH, Khadivzadeh T et al. The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth on exclusive breastfeeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc 2020;21(1):46-56. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords