The effect of maternal position on cerebral oxygenation in premature infants during Kangaroo care: a randomised controlled trial

Objective: To assess whether there was an optimal maternal position (30° versus 60° incline) for kangaroo mother care. Design: Single centre cross-over randomised controlled trial. Mothers were randomly assigned to start at either a 30° or 60° angle. Primary outcomes were the mean cerebral near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) values. Secondary outcomes included median peripheral saturations and heart rates. Results: Twenty infants were included in the final analysis: median gestational age at birth was 28⁺¹ weeks and median birth weight was 985 g. No significant differences were observed in the primary outcomes or the secondary outcomes at either angle. Conclusions: Maternal positioning at a 30° or 60° incline did not impact on cerebral oxygenation values in very preterm infants. Either position was associated with clinical stability. Trial Registration Number : ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT05686252.