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Poster #146 - Mothers’ and Fathers’ Touching Behaviours During Their First Triadic Parent-Infant Interaction Immediately After Birth

Fri, March 22, 2:30 to 3:45pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

The first hour after birth is an extraordinary event and critical period for the development of the parent-infant relationship (Phillips, 2013). At this time, tactile contact is pervasive and facilitates the infant’s transition outside the womb and mothers’ and fathers’ transition into parenthood (Chen et al., 2017). Touch during this time is associated with subsequent contact behaviours (De Chateau & Wiberg, 1977), setting the stage for future parent-infant interactions. The distinctiveness of this period, combined with the pronounced benefits of touch for the newborn’s development (Field, 2010), highlight the importance of investigating parents’ naturalistic displays of touch beginning from the first hour after birth. Although touch within the immediate postpartum period is an important interactive context, it has been vastly overlooked. Further, studies considering fathers’ touch during this period have been notably absent. The typical progression, range, and variability of parents’ touching behaviours during this distinct life event and their relation to interactions that follow thus remain unclear. The primary objectives were to investigate both mothers’ and fathers’ touch during their first interaction with their newborn, and the progression of maternal touch from the immediate postpartum period to 3-months postpartum.
First-time mothers, fathers, and their healthy newborns (n=22) engaged in their very first naturalistic interaction in the hospital, within the first hour after birth and delivery. Three months later, these same mother-infant dyads engaged in the Still-Face procedure (SF; Tronick et al., 1978), a series of dyadic face-to-face interactions where mothers interacted naturally for two periods, separated by a brief perturbation where mothers were unresponsive. Interactions were video-recorded and the quality (8 types) and quantity (frequency, duration) of mothers’ and fathers’ individual touching behaviours were coded second-by-second using reliable, systematic behavioral observation coding systems (Caregiver-Infant Touch Scale and its Adapted version; Stack et al., 2014; 2010).
Results revealed that mothers and fathers display a range of touching behaviours when interacting with their infants for the very first time. While mothers utilized all types of touch (i.e., holding, rocking, massaging) at significantly higher frequencies and durations than fathers, mothers and fathers demonstrated similarities in the quality of their touch; both used more nurturing types of touch including static, stroking, and caressing. Maternal touch during the immediate postpartum period was also a significant predictor of maternal touch after, but not before, the perturbation period of the SF procedure 3 months later; more touch after birth was associated with more soothing, regulating, types of maternal touch after the SF. As such, the nature of these interaction contexts (i.e. post-perturbation) may be parallel.
To our knowledge, this study was the first to thoroughly investigate maternal and paternal touching behaviours simultaneously during the first hour after birth. It was also the first to consider how mothers’ very first displays of touch relate to their later touch at 3-months. Our study makes a unique contribution by revealing the nurturing and predictive quality of parents’ touch. Results have direct implications for a deeper understanding of the parent-infant relationship, and touch as a primary means of early communication.

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