Effects of Skin-to-Skin Care on Late Preterm and Term Infants At-Risk for Neonatal Hypoglycemia

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of prolonged skin-to-skin care (SSC) during blood glucose monitoring (12–24 hours) in late preterm and term infants at-risk for neonatal hypoglycemia (NH). STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective pre- and postintervention study. We compared late preterm and term infants at-risk for NH born in a 1-year period before the SSC intervention, May 1, 2013, to April 30, 2014 (pre-SSC) to at-risk infants born in the year following the implementation of SSC intervention, May 1, 2014, to April 30, 2015 (post-SSC). RESULTS: The number of hypoglycemia admissions to neonatal intensive care unit among at-risk infants for NH decreased significantly from 8.1% pre-SSC period to 3.5% post-SSC period (P = 0.018). The number of infants receiving intravenous dextrose bolus in the newborn nursery also decreased significantly from 5.9% to 2.1% (P = 0.02). Number of infants discharged exclusively breastfeeding increased from 36.4% to 45.7%, although not statistically significant (P = 0.074). CONCLUSION: This SSC intervention, as implemented in our hospital, was associated with a significant decrease in newborn hypoglycemia admissions to neonatal intensive care unit. The SSC intervention was safe and feasible with no adverse events.