Facilitating Skin-to-Skin Contact In the Postnatal Period

Birmingham City University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Body Temperature Changes; Breast Feeding

Treatments: Device: skin-to-skin facilitating garment

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02998463

Bailey /Nov /2016 /RC /0640

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of a skin-to-skin facilitating garment used by mother-infant dyads. It has three phases including researcher observation, randomised controlled trialing and qualitative midwifery staff perspective. The research will determine the effect a facilitating garment has in comparison to conventionally facilitated skin-to-skin contact, by measuring its effect on the baby's temperature stability, breastfeeding status and weight velocity.

Full description

Skin-to-skin contact is used as part of a package of Kangaroo Mother Care across the world. This has been demonstrated to reduce neonatal morbidity, mortality, and inpatient stays for low birth weight and preterm infants (Charpak and Ruiz 2016).

This study examines the effect a facilitating garment, the Snuby® has on neonatal health outcomes associated with skin-to-skin contact, such as neonatal thermoregulation, breastfeeding status, and self-reported mother-infant bonding. It uses a mixed methods approach to address quantitative and qualitative outcomes including participant's perspectives, and measurable health markers.

Enrollment: 110 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 16+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Maternal participants

Inclusion Criteria:

Women, non-binary and transgender participants. Aged 16+ years old. Vaginal birth, including ventouse, forceps and spontaneous vaginal birth. 28+ weeks pregnant. Body Mass Index of 18 to 30 inclusive. Births between 37 and 42 completed weeks of pregnancy. Women without any morbidities that will significantly impair their ability to independently parent their baby.

Women planning to give birth on the labour ward, co-located birth centre, standalone birth centre or at home.

Exclusion Criteria:

Caesarean section births. High dependency Unit patients. Illiterate in English. Multiple pregnancies e.g. twins. Registered child protection concerns. Substance misusing women. Body Mass Index of less than 18 at booking appointment. Body Mass Index of more than 30 at booking appointment. Aged under 16 years old.

Neonatal participants

Inclusion criteria:

Born 37 to 42 completed weeks gestation. Birth weight between 2500g and 4000g . Weight at six weeks of age less than 6000g. Neonates requiring blood glucose prefeed monitoring. From birth to six weeks of age.

Exclusion criteria:

Preterm neonates (less than 37 weeks gestation). Requirement for special or intensive neonatal care. Receiving phototherapy. Receiving intravenous antibiotics. Falling growth velocity of more than 2 centiles. Aged over 6 weeks old.

Midwifery staff participants

Inclusion Criteria:

Working at the National Health Service Trust hosting the research. Working through the Hospital Bank. Registered midwife through the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Working on band 5, 6 or 7. Working within the hospital setting.

Exclusion Criteria:

Midwifery staff working in the community without rotating to the hospital wards.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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110 participants in 2 patient groups

Snuby® users

Experimental group

Description:

This group receives the Snuby® skin-to-skin facilitating garment to use in the first six weeks following birth with their baby. The use of the Snuby® garment is participant led, and used for as long and as often as they wish in the six week period.

Treatment:

Device: skin-to-skin facilitating garment

Conventional Care

No Intervention group

Description:

This group does not receive any intervention, and collects data on the research outcomes when having conventionally facilitated skin-to-skin contact, using a towel, blanket, or clothing as preferred. Skin-to-skin contact frequency and duration is dictated by the participant.