The relation between early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact and later maternal sensitivity in South African mothers of low birth weight infants.

The relation between early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact (SSC) and mothers' subsequent sensitivity to their low birth weight infants was investigated in a study of 12 mother-infant dyads who participated in a South African randomized control study of early SSC. The dyads were visited in the home when infants were under 1 year. Amounts of SSC were taken from hospital records and home interviews.