Factors associated with skin-to-skin contact less than 180 min/day in newborns weighing up to 1,800 g: multicenter study

This article aims to evaluate the fac-tors associated with a skin-to-skin contact time <180 min/day in newborns weighing up to 1,800 g during neonatal hospitalization. Prospective observational cohort study conducted in neona -tal units of reference for the Kangaroo Method in Brazil. Data from 405 dyads (mother/child) were analyzed from May 2018 to March 2020. Maternal and neonatal explanatory variables were collected from medical records and inter-views. Skin-to-skin contact was recorded in forms posted at the bedside, filled out by parents and staff. The outcome variable was the mean time of skin-to-skin contact < 180 min/day. Hierarchical modeling was performed by Poisson regression with robust variance. The variables associated with the outcome were "without easy access to the hospital", "without previous knowledge of the kangaroo method" and "having had morbidities during pregnancy". Mothers without easy access to the hospital and who are unaware of the kan-garoo method should be priority targets for health policies to develop strategies that promote greater exposure to skin-to-skin contact during the hospi-talization their children.