Maternal Touch and Talk for Invasive Procedures in Infants and Toddlers in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit 1

The aim of this single-blind, randomized, crossover trial was to test the effect of Touch & Talk (T&T) for infants and toddlers less than 36 months of age (N = 65) in the pediatric intensive care unit on their physiological stability and recovery to an invasive procedure. In the T&T condition, mothers touched, sang, or told stories or rhymes to their child during an invasive procedure. In the control condition, the mothers did not have contact with their child. Physiological measures included heart rate, heart rate variability, and oxygen saturation range during the procedure and change from baseline. Time from the end of the procedure until the heart rate returned to baseline levels gave the recovery time. Analysis was conducted using repeated-measures analysis of covariance. There were no significant differences on any of the physiological parameters by condition during the procedure. However, when controlling for severity of illness, recovery was faster with mothers.