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 either a 30° or 60° angle. Primary outcome was the median cerebral oxygenation values. Secondary outcomes included median peripheral saturations and median heart rates. Results: Twenty participants were included in the final analysis: median gestational age at birth was 28 ⁺¹ weeks and median birth weight was 985g. There were no statistically significant differences between the median NIRS values at 30° (median rSO2 = 67.5, IQR = 58.3 – 73.8) and 60° (median rSO2 = 68, IQR = 60.5 – 76), p = 0.8. There were no statistically significant difference in any secondary outcome. 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