Skin-to-Skin Contact After Birth Does Not Boost Long-Term Development – ryan

The first moment between a mother and newborn has long been believed to offer lasting benefits, but a new study is challenging assumptions about how far those benefits go.

A randomized clinical trial published in the journal JAMA Network Open found that skin-to-skin contact (SSC) between mothers and their newborns in the delivery room did not improve neurodevelopmental outcomes at two to three years of age.

Still, researchers say it offers major benefits worth embracing.

The trial involved 108 preterm babies, born around 30 weeks gestation, who were assigned either to immediate SSC with their mothers or to standard care. Researchers later followed up with 86 of the children at age two to three to assess developmental outcomes.

The researchers found that there was no meaningful difference between the SSC group and the standard care group when it came to cognitive development, as measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III).

“There were also no differences in neurodevelopmental outcomes between groups at 3 and 12 months,” the authors said. “However, significantly more neonates in the SSC group were breastfed at discharge compared with those in the standard care
group.”

Around half the children in both groups were found to be at risk of developmental delay—consistent with expectations for babies born prematurely.

However, where SSC did make a lasting impact was in breastfeeding. Babies in the SSC group were more likely to be breastfeeding at hospital discharge and continued breastfeeding longer—many still at 12 months—compared to their counterparts who received standard care.

Skin-to-skin contact, where a newborn is placed directly on the mother’s bare chest shortly after birth, has become increasingly recognized for its many short-term benefits.

It helps regulate a baby’s body temperature, stabilizes heart rate and breathing, and promotes bonding. The World Health Organization (WHO) now recommends immediate SSC for preterm infants after a large study in low-resource settings found it significantly reduced infant mortality.

Still, few hospitals have fully adopted SSC in the delivery room—especially for fragile, preterm babies—often due to outdated protocols or lack of staff training.

This new study is one of the first to examine whether those first few hours of SSC lead to longer-term developmental gains.

While the answer appears to be no, the researchers argue that the intervention’s many immediate and ongoing benefits, especially around breastfeeding, are enough to justify making SSC a routine part of neonatal care.

While SSC may not change the cognitive future of a child, it can still shape a healthier, more connected start to life.

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Reference

Kristoffersen, L., Støen, R., Bergseng, H., Flottorp, S. T., Magerøy, G., Grunewaldt, K. H., & Aker, K. (2025). Immediate Skin-to-Skin Contact in Very Preterm Neonates and Early Childhood Neurodevelopment: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open, 8(4).