For newborns, skin-to-skin contact with parents and caregivers may help shape how their brains respond to touch, a sense necessary for social and emotional connections, a new study suggests. Plenty of previous research has linked skin-to-skin touch with developmental benefits for both premature and full-term babies, ranging from improved growth and sleep to better motor development. Research has also tied breastfeeding and other forms of supportive touch to less discomfort during from needle sticks and other painful medical procedures. In the current study, researchers tested how 125 premature and full-term infants responded to gentle touch. Overall, the preemies were more likely than the full-term babies to have a reduced response to this contact, the study found.

“Our findings add to our understanding that more exposure to these types of supportive touch can actually impact how the brain processes touch, a sense necessary for learning and social-emotional connections,” said lead study author Dr. Nathalie Maitre of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Pregnancy normally lasts about 40 weeks, and babies born after 37 weeks are considered full term. In the weeks immediately after birth, premature babies often have difficulty breathing and digesting food. They can also encounter longer-term challenges such as impaired vision, hearing, and cognitive skills as well as social and behavioral problems. Newborn development, especially in the first few months, is heavily shaped by touch and sound, as the visual system is still very immature, Maitre said. Touch is a way for infants to learn about their surroundings and an early way to communicate with their parents.