UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Early skin-to-skin contact (SSC) after birth is recommended as part of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) baby friendly health initiative to promote optimum breastfeeding. This paper reports rates of breastfeeding initiation and duration in a low resource environment, where early SSC is not practised, and explores views of pregnant women and midwives surroundin...

BACKGROUND To measure the analgesic effectiveness of the 5 S's (swaddling, side/stomach position, shushing, swinging, and sucking) alone and combined with sucrose, during routine immunizations at 2 and 4 months. METHODS We conducted a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with 2- and 4-month-old infants during well-child visits. Patients were assigned into 4 groups (2 × 2) receivi...

Based on strong research evidence: All infants should be placed in the supine position for every sleep. Tobacco exposure pre- and postnatally should be avoided. Room sharing without bed sharing is recommended. It is recommended that blankets, pillows, and other soft bedding be removed from the infant sleep area. Overheating should be avoided. Breastfeeding should be encouraged for SIDS risk red...

Painful procedures in the neonatal intensive care unit are common, undertreated, and lead to adverse consequences. A stepwise approach to treatment should include pain recognition, assessment, and treatment, starting with nonpharmacologic and progressing to pharmacologic methods for increasing pain. The most common nonpharmacologic techniques include nonnutritive sucking with and without sucros...

OBJECTIVE To investigate thermal balance of infants in a Mongolian winter, and compare the effects of traditional swaddling with an infant sleeping-bag in apartments or traditional tents (Gers). DESIGN A substudy within a randomised controlled trial. SETTING Community in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. SUBJECTS A stratified randomly selected sample of 40 swaddled and 40 non-swaddled infants recrui...