The purpose of the study was to explore relationships between caregiver holding and
feeding behaviors and the transitional newborn infant’s cortisol response. Behaviors
of 46 mothers, fathers, and their term transitional newborn infants were measured
with the Index of Mother-Infant Separation (IMIS). Repeated measures of infant salivary
cortisol were used to calculate area under the curve. A higher percentage of observations
in which mother was holding infant was related to lower infant total cortisol during
the first 6 hours after birth (r = −.24, p = .05, one-tailed).
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 21, 2011
Footnotes
1Previous presentations: Elverson, C. A., & Wilson, M. E. (2008). Social regulation of the stress response in the transitional newborn (Abstract). Advances in Neonatal Care, 8(2), 133–134; Elverson, C. A., & Wilson, M. E. (2007, April 20). Social Regulation of the Stress Response in the Transitional Newborn. Paper presented at Research Day sponsored by Phi and Beta Chapters of Sigma Theta Tau, Brookings, SD; Elverson, C. A., & Wilson, M. E. (2007, April 10–12). Social Regulation of the Stress Response in the Transitional Newborn. Paper presented at NANN Research Summit, Phoenix, AZ. Travel and lodging were supported by Mead Johnson; Elverson, C. A., & Wilson, M. E. (2007, March 23–26). Social Regulation of the Stress Response in the Transitional Newborn. Paper presented at Midwest Nursing Research Society, Omaha, NE.
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© 2012 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
