Do caregiving models after cesarean birth influence the infants’ breathing adaptation and crying? A pilot study

Cesarean birth is a mode of delivery that often minimizes the mothers’ possibility to handle her term baby skin-to-skin while the father takes care of the baby for part, or all, of the first hours. No attention has, as far as we know, been given to different caregiving models and their eventual effects on the adaptation of breathing for the term infant born by elective cesarean. Previous publications on breathing patterns in newborn infants have mostly been conducted on premature infants in kangaroo care. The aim of this pilot study was to compare the effects of two caregiving models on the adaptation of breathing and infant crying after elective cesarean section, in term infants during the first hours after birth. Term infants born by elective cesarean were held skin-to-skin on their father’s chest or cared for in a cot during the mother’s post-operative observation stay. Thirteen father-infant pairs participated in a pilot sub-study with a randomized control trial design. Data were collected both by respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) and by tape-recorded crying time. The data raises important questions about the effects on breathing adaptation in relation to caregiving models. The infants in the skin-to-skin group showed significantly higher inspiratory and expiratory air flows, larger breath volume (all p<0.001) and minute ventilation, compared with the cot group. The infants in the skin-to-skin group cried less than the infants in the cot group (p<0.001). A caregiving model where fathers hold their infants skin-to-skin in an upright position on their chest has a positive impact on the infants’ respiratory adaptation and reduced infant crying. Larger studies of caregiving models after elective cesarean birth on the adaptation of breathing need to be conducted.