Skin-to-skin back transfers provide a feasible, safe and low-stress alternative to conventional neonatal transport.

Skin-to-skin (STS) contact is increasingly practised in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) (1), especially to dampen the detrimental impact of negative stress (2). These days high-risk infants are usually transferred in-utero to centralised tertiary level care units. Once these infants have been born, stabilised and are ready for convalescence, they are back transferred to less specialist neonatal units near their homes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.