SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
Parent-Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact and Stress Regulation: A Systematic Review of the Literature.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of Kangaroo Mother Care in the NICU on the Physiological Stress Parameters of Premature Infants: A Meta-Analysis of RCTs.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Evaluating a family-centered care intervention for reducing post-traumatic stress and aggression among parents of infants with congenital anomalies: a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Effects of home-based integrated sensory stimulation program to preterm infants on parents' depression and anxiety: a randomized controlled trial.Global health action · 2025Trial
- Maternal singing sustains preterm hospitalized newborns' autonomic nervous system maturation: an RCT.Pediatric research · 2024Trial
- Effects of daily full-term infant skin-to-skin contact on behavior and cognition at age three - secondary outcomes of a randomized controlled trial.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2023Trial
- Effects of skin-to-skin contact on full-term infants' stress reactivity and quality of mother-infant interactions.Developmental psychobiology · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Skin-to-skin contact improves sleep stability in preterm infants.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Insurance and early racial disparities in skin-to-skin care during NICU hospitalization.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Article
- Effects of Maternal Heartbeat Exposure on Neonatal Autonomic Regulation.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2026Article
- Breastfeeding Practices, Insomnia Symptoms, Anxiety, and Depression Among Lebanese Mothers: A Cross-Sectional Study.Food science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Effects of Daily Mother-Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact on Breastfeeding Outcomes in the First Four Weeks and Maternal Postnatal Mental Health: A Quasi-Experimental Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Violence Against Women, Mother-Infant Bond and Child Behaviour: An Exploratory Path Analysis at IVAPSA Cohort.Child: care, health and development · 2026Article
- Differential Maternal Physiological Stress Responses During Rooming-In: High Stress in Newborn Sleeping versus Relief in Breastfeeding.International journal of women's health · 2026Article
- Parental knowledge and experience of kangaroo care for preterm infants in neonatal intensive care unit: a qualitative study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The Swedish national guideline on immediate and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact and mother-newborn couplet care.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Heart rate variability is associated with self-regulation and stress neurobehavior in preterm infants.Early human development · 2025Article
- Clinical audit of skin-to-skin contact and initiation of breastfeeding after birth.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Immediate Kangaroo Mother Care for Sick Newborns: Quality Improvement Implementation and Feasibility Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Several studies have focused on neonatal maternal separation (MS) to investigate behavioural and neuroendocrine reactions to lack of contact, but only a few have focused on early separation in the first days or weeks after birth. This literature review investigates the vital importance of contact and touch by exploring how skin-to-skin contact (SSC) regulates stress in the mother-infant relationship. Various databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and ScienceDirect were searched for literature published between 2015 and 2020. From 1141 articles, 22 were declared eligible. The reviewed articles showed how SSC regulates child stress by biological indicators such as the autonomic nervous system (ANS), heart rate variability (HRV), cortisol, and oxytocin. This research concludes the importance of SSC for stress regulation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. With no research to date indicating a possible risk of neonatal COVID-19 transmission following SSC, SSC should continue to be practiced for all women, as recommended by the WHO.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.