3 | RESULTS 3.1 | Participants In total, 107 couples agreed to participate, but 12 infants did not
meet the health inclusion criteria 30 minutes after birth.
This mean that 95 infants were included in the study and ran-
domised to one of the three groups: there were 32 infants in the
cot, 34 in the fathers' arms group and 29 in the skin-to-skin contact
group.
3.2 | Demographic characteristics All the men and women were of Chilean origin and the women re-
ceived elective Caesarean sections after uncomplicated pregnancies.
There were no statistically significant differences between the mean
ages in the three caring groups. The average age of the fathers was
32 ± 7.3 years while the mean age of the mothers was 29 ± 6.3 years.
On average, the participants had two previous children. The mean
gestational age was 38.9 ± 0.9 weeks for the fathers' arms group,
38.7 ± 1.7 weeks for the cot group and 38.9 ± 0.9 weeks for the
skin-to-skin contact group. The 48 girls had a mean birth weight of
3498 ± 438.4 and the 47 boys with a mean weight of 3547 ± 382.8
grams.
3.3 | Physiological parameters The infant's physiological parameters were assessed, namely tem-
perature, heart rate and peripheral oxygen saturation (Table 2).
The infants were assessed after 30 minutes under a heater and
assigned to one of the three caring models. Their mean ear tempera-
ture was 36.8°C at this point. There were no significant differences
in the mean ear temperature between the three groups (Table 2),
TA B L E 1 The NBAS scoring scheme for infant state of wakefulness [23]
Code 1: Sleep state
Code 2: Sleep state
Code 3: Drowsy
state
Code 4: Alert state
Code 5: Alert state
Code 6: Crying state
Deep sleep, regular
breathing,
eyes closed, no
activities
Light sleep
Eyes may be
open, dull,
heavy lidded,
closed, delayed
responses to
stimuli, not alert
Bright look, focused,
attention to
stimulation, motor
activities minimised,
glazed look
Eyes open, motor
activities, fuzzy
vocalisations
Crying that is difficult
to break through
with stimulation
with typical
‘crying' face,
cupped tongue
Eyes closed, rapid
eye movements,
low activity level
