More benefits observed with skin to skin holding

This simple intervention has been employed formally for at least 3 decades, especially for the more fragile prematurely born baby. It seems to hold quite an interest with researchers as mounting studies continue to show a variety of benefits to both infant and mother. The release of oxytocin in both creates a feeling of calm connection and is the antidote to stress. Well known studies have shown that skin to skin holding helps normalize baby’s temperature, breathing, heart rate, oxygenation, and glucose levels in the hours immediately after birth. In premature babies, just one hour of skin to skin holding daily for 2 weeks resulted in improved cognitive and motor test scores at one year old. In August 2020, a study titled Skin to Skin Care: More than meets the eye, published in the Journal of Pediatrics by Steinhorn showed increased blood flow to the brain and improved cardiac function for preterm babies during skin to skin holding.

As if we need research to know that the close holding of babies does good things.

Role of sleep

We’ve always been told that growth happens during quiet/deep sleep and indeed, levels of growth hormones during that time are elevated. But REM/active sleep has always been a bit more mysterious. Research has been investigating what happens during the active sleep state, sometimes referred to as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) or dream sleep. Newborns spend about 50% of their sleep time in REM and that diminishes to 25% by 10 years old. There is some evidence that in infants, REM is important for the development of the visual cortex. A recent study out of UCLA reports that during REM sleep, the baby’s brain is building and strengthening the synapses so neurons can communicate with each other. (This, I think is what the brain is all about!) At about 2 1/2 years old, the effect of REM changes from building connections to preserving brain function. Researchers consider this a major shift in brain activity, and it occurs at a very young age. If at all possible, try to let baby transition from sleeping to awakening on her own so all that important work of the two sleep states can take place.

Now, if we could only know what those little ones are dreaming about……

reference:

Unraveling why we sleep: Quantitative analysis reveals abrupt transition from neural reorganization to repair in early development

1. View ORCID ProfileJunyu Cao¹, 
2. View ORCID ProfileAlexander B. Herman², 
3. Geoffrey B. West³,⁴, 
4. View ORCID ProfileGina Poe⁵ and 
5. View ORCID ProfileVan M. Savage³,⁶,*

 See all authors and affiliationsScience Advances  18 Sep 2020:
Vol. 6, no. 38, eaba0398
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba0398