Should skin to skin care be standard of care for preemies right after delivery?

Should skin to skin care be standard of care for preemies right after delivery?

Skin to skin care (STS) or kangaroo care (KC) has quickly become one of the hot topics in neonatal care these days. The benefits have been spoken of before and as we learn more about the benefits it isn’t surprising to see studies emerge looking at novel groups who might benefit from the same. Dr. Kribs and her team in Cologne, Germany put themselves on the map with studies demonstrating the potential use of and benefits from LISA techniques for surfactant administration. The same unit is at it again but this time asking a different but very important series of questions.

Combatting the challenges the mother-infant dyad face after delivery

Traditionally, our smallest infants are resuscitated and shown to the parents before being taken to the NICU for ongoing care in an isolette. Dr. Kribs and her group wondered about the effect that separation could have on the mother-child interaction (MCI). The groups were comprised of infants born between 25 +0 – 32+ 0 weeks gestation. They postulated in a randomized controlled trial that after stabilization with or without surfactant that there would be a benefit to having these dyads spend 45 minutes in STS vs the traditional 5 minute visual contact with touching allowed of the face but not anywhere on the body since the infant was wrapped in protective thermal wrap. To test the difference in MCI at 6 months the authors shot a 4 minute video of the mother and child together and using blinded reviewers assessed the interaction between the dyad. The interaction involved the mother changing the diaper and playing with their children.

From the study; “Maternal and infant behavior was assessed using the Mannheim Rating System, a well validated standardized observation instrument(16). Videos were analyzed by two trained raters blind to randomization.”

Self reports of other important outcomes such as depression, bonding and more objective study of salivary cortisol were also performed. Salivary cortisol elevations were apparently blunted in another study at 4 months of age in infants who experienced more pain and stress in the NICU.

The studies title is Delivery room skin-to-skin contact for preterm infants – a randomized clinical trial

What did they find?

Like many studies looking at a brief intervention in the life of a child this one had some findings that are worth discussing.

Overall, the rate of positive MCI was higher in the group randomized to STS (86 (±26) vs 71 (±32), p=0.041, OR 0.982, CI [0.7-1]). This difference was due to three particular differences in the MCI studies.

Maternal motoric response, infant vocal response and infant motoric response. What this meant specifically is that infant and maternal physical interactions were deemed positive in terms of facial expressions, physical movement or vocalizations more when delivery room STS was performed than when not. Infants were also more vocal with their mothers when they had experienced this intervention.

Also on the 3rd day of life maternal depressive symptoms were higher in the group randomized to only see their infant for 5 minutes. This was in spite of controlling for factors expected to confound the result. Salivary cortisol did not show a difference at 4 months. While the study was underpowered for the secondary outcomes there was no increase rate of IVH or other adverse outcomes in the study so take that for what its worth.

Lastly, there was less hypothermia in the group randomized to STS care on admission.

Some lessons from this study

As the authors note it is possible that parents prepped themselves for the videos but the number of parents that “put on a show” should roughly be equal between the groups. Not sure given the low number of patients in the study if that would have truly balanced out but the results to me seem plausible. Having a preterm infant for most families who really don’t know what to expect can be a terrifying experience. Such parents may develop the vulnerable child syndrome in which parents hover over their children feeling as if they need to be over protective given the perceived frailty of the child. This constant worry can lead to stress for the family and affect the parent-child interaction. What if you were able to hold your baby though almost from the start for 45 minutes against your chest and see that your infant wasn’t as fragile as you might have thought? Could this lead to a reduction in depressive symptoms by 3 days as found here? Might you spend a lot more time in kangaroo care as the journey of the patient continues in the NICU?

These were not all healthy babies as about 80% in both arms received the LISA procedure for administration of surfactant and then went on to CPAP. To most parents these babies would have indeed appeared fragile but perhaps showing the families that the babies were stronger than they looked and moreover allowing the families to not just be observers but provide direct care indeed had an impact on their mood and that carried over to childhood.

No doubt the naysayers out there will want a larger study that looks at other outcomes in terms of harm such as IVH and sepsis but this study certainly shows the strategy is possible and may just have enough benefit to make it standard of care some day.

Kangaroo care; keep it safe!

Kangaroo care; keep it safe!

By Diane Schultz

“Safety should be a birthright” Clementine Wamariya

Before continuing with the posts I thought I should address a very important issue when it comes to KC

Safety

As I have said before I believe fully in the benefits of KC for any infant (premature or full term). To enable that infant and family to benefit from KC, safety must always be part of the equation.

A risk factor for Apparent Life threatening Events (ALTE) is KC that is unsupervised and without an attentive observer. Despite this risk, when comparisons are made between ALTEs with KC and ALTEs without; ALTEs without KC were higher. Another term that has been talked about since KC has been increasing in NICUs and Maternal Child areas is Sudden Unexpected Postnatal Collapse (SUPC), a rare event but can have catastrophic consequences.

Risk factors for SUPC include:

 

Prone position

First breastfeeding attempt

Co-bedding

Mother in episiotomy position

A primiparous mother

Parents left alone with baby during the first hours after birth

 

Implementations to Reduce SUPC:

A continual secure surveillance of the newborn in the first hours and days of life

Safe early skin to skin care (SSC) in the delivery room

Safe breastfeeding establishment in the first days of life

Secure positioning of the infant during sleep

SUPC of Newborn infants: A review of cases, definitions, risks and preventative measures. Herlenius E., and Kuhn P. (2013)

Our Maternal/Child department is incredibly busy as are most centres these days. Every effort must always be made to fully educate staff and the families about safety for our newborns.

Safety Education should include:

Correct positioning

Anytime KC is happening there should be attentive and continuous observation

To facilitate respiratory expansion, infant should be elevated off of horizontal (Bohnhourst, 2010; Heinman et al, 2010)

There should be no obstruction of the infant’s nose and the head needs to be turned to one side

Neck should not be flexed or extended but in a slight “sniffing” position

Infant’s body should be positioned to maintain ventral surface to ventral surface contact

Infant should be secured with blankets, wraps and/or parent’s hands to prevent sliding (I prefer using the parent’s hands to contain the infant and then cover them both with blankets. I feel the parent has better awareness of babe’s position that way)

Our unit is made up of pods with curtains that can divide each bedside. When our parents are holding KC those curtains are to be left open so the nurse can observe. We prop our parent’s arms so they don’t get tired and tuck both in with blankets.  We have also created a standard work procedure for our intubated and fragile infants so staff transfer and secure the infant the same way each time.

We also attend all high-risk deliveries. When I leave babies in kangaroo position after a delivery, I always make sure the baby’s face is turned toward the L&D nurse, not away so she can easily observe the infant even if she is tending to mom.

Everything we do in life has risks; swimming, driving a vehicle, voting, etc. To do these things there are safety measures put in place. You wouldn’t avoid driving a car because it has safety risks.  You take driving lessons, pass a test, follow the rules of the road, and that way you get to enjoy the benefits of driving. I feel it is the same with KC, education and safety measures should always be in place so that infant and family can enjoy the benefits.

 

 

 

 

 

Kangaroo care; keep it safe!

Kangaroo Care and Sleep

By Diane Schultz

A Mother’s arms are full of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them – Victor Hugo

The NICU is a loud and chaotic place, that can be painful to be in at times. Its hard to get a good nights sleep (especially for the nurses!). When you think about how much our infants are handled and disturbed, poked and prodded, all in almost continual daylight, it’s a wonder they get any sleep.

For normal neurodevelopment the infant needs both active and quiet sleep. Sleep in an infant is divided into REM (active sleep) and NON-REM (quiet sleep). During quiet sleep you see very little movement and a regular breathing pattern, whereas active sleep involves movement with an irregular breathing pattern.

The importance of Quiet Sleep:

• Without it, the infant doesn’t get enough active sleep.
• Provides the infant with a break from the busy NICU environment.
• Lessons the release of glucocorticoids (Increased cortisol can cause neuronal cell death).
• Restorative.
• Necessary for brain development.
• Increased quiet sleep = decreased risk of SIDS.

The importance of Active Sleep:

• Active sleep promotes brain maturation (US DHHS, 2003; Mirmiran, 1995).
• Most memory consolidation and learning occurs in this state (Smith, 2003).
• Nerve cell connections are restructured (synaptic plasticity) (Marks et al., 1995).

Due to the NICU environment, the infant ends up having slower sleep organization maturation and with increased cortisol they are more apt to have a disturbed and less restful sleep.

A complete cycle of sleep includes moving from active sleep to quiet sleep and back to active sleep. Full term and preterms >32 weeks postconceptional age will need about 60-70 minutes for a cycle. Infants <32 weeks postconceptional age will need about 90 minutes. So when infants come out for KC, we try to plan for at least that amount of time.

You will see when infants are placed in KC, the infant settles and goes into a deep sleep. To accommodate this, you will need comfortable chairs for the parent and good support for their arms. You also want to make sure they have had something to eat or drink, pumped breast milk, used the washroom and had something for pain if needed. Don’t be surprised if your parent falls asleep as well; oxytocin will end up kicking in (the cuddle hormone) and they often find it hard to stay awake. We also provide warmed blankets for our parents to encourage everyone to get comfortable and rest. Snoring is a common side effect of KC in our unit…

While in KC, the infants have a deep sleep with less arousal and better sleep organization than when not in KC (Ludington-Hoe et al., 2006)

In Scher et al.’s study (2009) they found that infants’ brain maturation was accelerated and brain complexity increased with 1.5 hours of KC/day for 4 days/wk from 32-40wks pma. Enhanced development in five sensory areas of the brain was shown with KC that was not seen in infants who did not get KC (both preterm and full term).

With all the evidence pointing to KC being beneficial for a good night’s sleep, I find it difficult to understand why so many are skeptical of it!

Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together – Thomas Dekker

Baby It’s Cold Outside! How Kangaroo Care/Skin to Skin works to thermoregulate Infants

Baby It’s Cold Outside! How Kangaroo Care/Skin to Skin works to thermoregulate Infants

By Diane Schultz

I thought I would start off my series of posts with one of the most basic reasons we do Kangaroo Care.
Thermoregulation is the process of maintaining an infant’s temperature within normal range. Thermoregulation is extremely important for the newborn (term or preterm). An infant’s body surface area is 3X greater than an adult’s, causing them to potentially lose heat rapidly, up to 4X faster. When cold stressed, infants use energy and oxygen to generate warmth.  Oxygen consumption can increase by as much as 10%. Thermoregulation of the infants allows them to conserve energy and build up *reserves”.

What Happens When An infant Is Placed Skin to Skin?

When the term infant is placed skin to skin at birth, the mother’s breasts immediately start to warm and conduct heat to the infant, helping to maintain normal blood sugar levels due to the infant not having to use their own brown fat to stay warm (Bergstrom et al.,2007;Bystrova et al.,2007;Ludington-Hoe et al.,2000,2006) (Chantry,2005;Christensson et al.,1992).

Kangaroo Care maintains a Neutral Thermal Environment (defined as the ideal setting in which an infant can maintain a normal body temperature while producing only the minimum amount of heat generated from basal life-sustaining metabolic processes).
In our unit, any infant that needs an incubator to maintain their temperature can only come out to be held by Kangaroo Care instead of being bundle held. To help maintain thermoregulation we make sure the infant and parent are in a draft free area, and use 2-4 layers of blankets over the infant (you can always remove a layer if needed). Infants weighing less than 1000gms should wear some type of head cap and monitor them using the incubator’s temperature probe. Remember too, we don’t want any bras or clothing between the infant and the mother, fabric will interfere with the conductance of heat from mother to infant (Ludington-Hoe et al.,2000).
One of the interesting things about KC and thermoregulation is if a mother holds twins in KC each breast works independently to warm each infant (Ludington-Hoe, et al.,2006). Triplets? Not sure, but our mothers hold their “trips” together all the time and we have had no issues.
Now, how about the father? Does he thermoregulate like the mother? With mothers you have what is called Thermal Synchrony (maternal breast temperatures changing in response to the infant’s temperature) (Ludington-Hoe, et al.,1990;1994,2000) where the fathers chests will warm up when the infant is placed in KC but will not cool down (Maastrup & Greisen, 2010). We don’t have any issues with our fathers overheating, just lots of hair to be picked off the infant after!

Kangaroo Care/Skin to Skin; Can it change your life too?

Kangaroo Care/Skin to Skin; Can it change your life too?

Hi, my name is Diane Schultz and Michael has asked me to write a series of posts on his blog about Kangaroo Care (KC). Seeing as I am one of the Champions (they call you that, but sometimes the word begins with a B) for KC in my unit, I was thrilled. I thought I would begin with an introduction as to why I want to write about this.

I have been a Neonatal Nurse for 29 years working in the NICU at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg. I felt that I had always given good care to the families but did not really make connections with them.

I was fortunate enough to meet Dr. Susie Ludington about 10 years ago at an Academy of Neonatal Nursing conference. She was a general session presenter and was speaking about Kangaroo Care. The first thing she said was “My goal is Kangaroo Care 24/7”. All I could think of was WTF!?  I would have to listen to this Nutbar for an hour? Our unit had been doing KC for years but only occasionally and usually the parent would ask for it, we certainly did not promote it or do it with our more fragile infants.

After listening to Dr. Ludington present, my world changed. What she said hit a cord; she presented benefit after benefit with rationale and evidence that made complete sense to me. I felt guilty I had not been doing this at work and guilty that I had not held my own daughters this way. I am now lucky to be able to call Dr. Ludington a friend, and know she has changed my life.

Now, there is a lot of evidence out there touting the benefits of KC, but the real way to understand and believe in it is to do it.  KC creates its own evidence. Every time I bring out a medically fragile infant to be held in KC, I know that this is the right place for that infant to be: with their parent being held.  You can see the relaxation on all of their faces (decreasing cortisol), the infant is able to go into a deep sleep (promotes brain maturation), and the family is able to connect in the best way possible. I feel KC is as important as anything else we do at the bedside and is an extremely necessary therapy.

Promoting KC in my unit has benefited me at so many levels; I believe it has actually saved my career and given me a focus that I didn’t have before. You can’t help but make connections with your families, and these families are able to make connections with their little ones. KC is also a very important part of Family Integrated Care, as this is something that the family can contribute to their child’s care.

I also couldn’t be more proud of my unit; the staff I have the pleasure to work with are some of the best health care professionals around. They make every effort to bring our fragile infants out for KC and it has become part of our culture in our NICU.  KC happens in our unit with almost all of our infants, the only exceptions being actively cooling babies and infants with chest tubes. We have also created a Standard Work Protocol so all medically fragile infants come out the safest way possible without creating extra stress on the infant or family.

In my series of posts I will present the many benefits of KC for infants and their families and share some of my experiences. I hope you will be able to take something away from this, begin to try KC in your own unit, and create your own evidence.