Continuous Delivery Room Skin-to-skin-study for Moderate and Late Preterm Infants

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to compare the effect of direct skin-to-skin contact in moderate and late preterm infants. The main questions it aims to answer are: * does skin-to-skin contact in moderate and late preterm infants influence gene expression in the stress signaling pathway? * does skin-to-skin contact in moderate and late preterm infants improve the short- and long-term outcome? Participants will either get immediate separation after vaginal birth or receive immediate skin-to-skin contact. Researchers will compare these two groups to answer the proposed questions.

NCT Number	NCT05975203
Lead Sponsor	University of Cologne
Conditions	Preterm Birth, Mother-Infant Interaction, Infant Development
Enrollment	60 participants
Start Date	2023-08-04
Primary Completion	2026-12-31 (estimated)
Study Completion	2028-12-31 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-02-20