Heart rate variability responses of a preterm infant to kangaroo care.

OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of kangaroo care on heart rate variability in a healthy preterm infant. DESIGN Case study. SETTING Private room on a postpartum unit. PARTICIPANT A mother-preterm infant dyad. INTERVENTION Kangaroo (skin-to-skin) care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Heart rate variability, a noninvasive measurement of the sympathetic and parasympathetic components of the autonomic nervous system's influence on heart rate. RESULTS Heart rate variability, especially the parasympathetic component, was high when the infant was fussy in the open crib, indicating increased autonomic nervous system activity. With kangaroo care, the infant fell asleep, and both sympathetic and parasympathetic components of heart rate variability decreased. CONCLUSIONS The wide fluctuations in the parasympathetic component of heart rate variability suggest immaturity of the sympathovagal response. Overall, kangaroo care produced changes in heart rate variability that illustrate decreasing stress.