Aim: To investigate the application of skin-to-skin care (SSC) in the Nordic countries, the existence of guidelines for SSC and the attitudes of neonatal staff towards SSC.

Methods: One questionnaire was distributed at unit level and one at staff level in all Nordic neonatal intensive care units (n = 109).

Results: The unit questionnaire was answered by 95 (87%) units and the staff questionnaire by 1446 staff members (72%). All units offered SSC to various degrees, but guidelines only existed at 47% of them. Units in Denmark, Norway and Sweden seemed to use SSC earlier, longer and in more medically complicated situations than units in Finland and Iceland. Seventy-seven per cent of the units had private rooms where parents and infants could stay together, still the physical environment of the units limited the use of SSC. Medical risks were considered the main barrier for further implementation of SSC, while general development and early interaction were the most frequently mentioned benefits.

Conclusion: Skin-to-skin care is implemented in all Nordic neonatal units, but offered to various degrees, to various populations and to varying extents. Danish, Norwegian and Swedish units are offering SSC more extensively than units in Finland and Iceland.

Aim: This study investigated if skin-to-skin contact could provide pain relief, measured with near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), during venepuncture in premature infants.

Methods: Ten infants born at 26-35 weeks of gestation were examined during a blood sampling procedure with venepuncture under two different conditions: in skin-to-skin contact with their mother or lying in their incubator or crib. A double-channel NIRS device was used and oxygen saturation and heart rate were measured using pulse oximetry. The infant's face and the pulse oximetry values were videotaped throughout the procedures, so that we could carry out a pain assessment using the Premature Infant Pain Profile - Revised (PIPP-R).

Results: We found a significantly smaller increase in oxygenated haemoglobin on the contralateral side during venepuncture when the infants were in skin-to-skin contact with their mothers, compared to when they were laying in their incubator or crib. When venepuncture was compared with a sham procedure, oxygenated haemoglobin increased significantly more with the infant in the incubator or crib than held skin-to-skin, but no significant differences could be seen in the PIPP-R results between the two groups.

Conclusion: This study showed that skin-to-skin contact between premature infants and their mothers during venepuncture had a pain-relieving effect.