Abstract
The care of premature infants in most nurseries entails prolonged physical separation of a mother from her baby. To determine whether this period of separation results in altered maternal behavior we measured feeding performance in a group of mothers who were permitted physical contact with their premature infants (mean b.w. 1,551 g) beginning in the first days of life (Early Contact). Their feeding behavior was compared at the time of discharge and one month later with another group of mothers who first handled their babies (mean b.w. 1,409 g) after 20 days of age (Late Contact). We made 34 time lapse movies of 24 mothers feeding their infants. Mothers' and babies' reactions were analyzed in detail at 1-sec intervals for 10 min of each 15 min filmed. Each frame was scored for twenty five activities ranging from caretaking skills such as the presence of milk in the tip of the nipple to measurements of maternal affection, such as the mother's body touching the infant's trunk (cuddling). Although the amount of time the mothers were looking at their babies was the same in both groups, the Early Contact group had significantly greater ‘en face’ (mother's face rotated so that her eyes and those of the infant meet fully in the same vertical plane) 14.8% vs. 5.7% (p < 0.05) and also more cuddling 46.3% vs. 21.1% (p < 0.025) in the pre-discharge but not the one month feeding. Both of these reflect to some extent the active interest of the mother in her infant. There were no significant differences in measures of caretaking. it is intriguing to consider whether the differences in maternal behavior are dur to early initiation of physical contact.
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Kennell, J., Gordon, D. & Klaus, M. The Effect of Early Mother–Infant Separation on Later Maternal Performance. Pediatr Res 4, 473–474 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197009000-00157
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197009000-00157