• Evalotte Mörelius, Charlotte Angelhoff, Jennie Eriksson, and Elisabeth Olhager.
• Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Faculty of Health Science, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden. evalotte.morelius@liu.se
• Acta Paediatr. 2012 Jan 1; 101 (1): 14-8.

AimTo describe the time of first skin-to-skin contact in extremely preterm infants in a national perspective and to investigate possible factors affecting the time of first skin-to-skin contact.MethodsA population-based prospective descriptive study of extremely preterm infants (n = 520) in seven regional hospitals in Sweden.ResultsExtremely preterm infants in Sweden experience first skin-to-skin contact with the parent at a median of six postnatal days (range 0-44). Low gestational age, a high score on the clinical risk index for babies, and the number of days on a ventilator tended to delay first skin-to-skin contact. A statistically significant difference was also found between regional hospitals.ConclusionThere is a difference in the time of first skin-to-skin contact based on the infant's medical condition and the tradition in the neonatal intensive care unit at the regional hospital where the infant is born.© 2011 The Author(s)/Acta Paediatrica © 2011 Foundation Acta Paediatrica.

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