Background. Rooming-in practice improves breastfeeding and reduces newborn stress reactivity. When this modality is not\navailable, partial rooming-in after birth can be considered. Salivary cortisol levels (SCLs) are considered reliable biomarkers to\nindicate stress. Objective. To test the hypothesis that rooming-in duration impacts neonatal stress response in hospitalized\nnewborns. Design/methods. Forty term newborns, enrolled in the Neonatology and Obstetrics Nursing, C.G. Ruesch, Naples,\nItaly, were divided, according to the mother�s choice, into the study (SG; n = 20) and control (CG; n = 20) groups if they received\nfull (24 hs) or partial (14 hs) rooming-in care, respectively. Saliva samples were collected from all babies between 7:00 a.m. and\n8:00 a.m. of the 3rd day of life by using oral swab. Salivary cortisol levels were measured using an enzyme immunoassay kit\n(Salimetrics LLC, PA, USA). Results. A statistically significant difference in the SCLs between SG and CG was found (median:\n258 ng/dl versus 488.5 ng/dl; p = 0 048). Conclusions. Data support the practice of full rooming-in care compared with partial\nrooming-in. The rooming-in duration clearly reduces SCLs and likely neonatal stress. These lower SCLs may have long-term\npositive effects reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and cognitive and behavioural changes.
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