From Hospital to Home: Continuity between Skin-to-Skin Care and Later Verbal Engagement in Infants Born Preterm

This descriptive cohort study documented continuity between family-delivered skin-to-skin care rates for preterm infants in the NICU and amount of child-directed speech at child age 9 months. Involvement in skin-to-skin care may be an early marker of caregiver engagement and a target for early interventions that support positive caregiver-infant interactions.