The Effect of Early Skin to Skin Contact on Maternal Attachment Behaviors in Neonates After Cesarean Section

Volume 8 Issue 4 November - January 2019

Research Paper

The Effect of Early Skin to Skin Contact on Maternal Attachment Behaviors in Neonates After Cesarean Section

Batool Pouraboli*, Mahdieh Estabraghi **, Younes Jahani***

*Assistant Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

**Msc in NICU, Nursing and Midwifery, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

***Associate Professor, Biostatistics, Modeling in Health Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.

Pouraboli, B.,Estabraghi, M.,Jahani, Y.,(2019). The Effect of Early Skin to Skin Contact on Maternal Attachment Behaviors in Neonates After Cesarean Section,i-manager's Journal on Nursing 8(4),10-18. https://doi.org/10.26634/jnur.8.4.15511

Abstract

The first hours after birth are a critical period to develop the mother-newborn attachment and to reduce the anxiety related to the baby. Cesarean section and subsequent separation of mother and baby can increase the disorders resulted from this separation. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of early skin to skin contact on maternal attachment behaviors in neonates after cesarean section in a hospital in South East of Iran. This is a randomized controlled trial study, which was done on 80 mothers and newborns after cesarean section with spinal anesthesia in a hospital in South East of Iran operating room. The research samples were assigned into two groups including; skin to skin contact group and the routine care group. In the intervention group immediately after the birth, the baby was placed in prone position on the mother's chest, and in the routine care group, the baby was placed under radiant warmer just immediately after the birth. Afterward, the data were gathered by using checklists of Avant mother attachment behaviors. Data analysis was done by SPSS version 22. The results showed that there is no difference between both groups in the demographic variables. A significant difference was found between both groups in the mean scores of emotional behaviors (p<0/0001) and caretaking behaviors (p<0/0001). However, no significant difference was found between the two groups in the close contact behaviors (p=0.22). According to the results of this study, mothers who had skin-to-skin contact with their baby showed more emotional and caring behaviors. Therefore, in cesarean sections, due to the problems with starting breastfeeding as well as long separation between mother and baby after surgery, skin-to-skin contact is recommended after birth as an inexpensive and easy method.