[Interrelation between well-being of the mother and heart rate variability of her preterm infant]

The relationship between mothers' well-being and the heart rate variability of their preterm babies was investigated. In order to study a possible influence of the mother's well-being on the calming quality of her voice and thereby on the heart rate variability of her preterm infant, maternal/paternal stress and competences as well as family functionality were assessed via respective questionnaires. (N = 30) Preterm babies at the postnatal age of approximately 4 weeks were acoustically stimulated with the voice of their own mother. Various heart rate variability measures (NN interval mean value, NN interval median, variance of NN intervals, standard deviation of NN intervals, pnn 6,25, RMSSD, SDSD and RSA) were recorded 15 minutes before, 15 minutes during and 15 minutes after the acoustic stimulation. Non-REM sleep sections of 2 minutes duration were matter of analyses. The correlations between the mothers' well-being and their babies' heart rate variability indicate a strong relationship. The correlations point out that a higher family functionality is associated with a higher heart rate variability of preterm babies. Contradictory to the expectations, higher burden and lower resources as well as lower competences of the mothers were associated with a higher heart rate variability of the preterm babies. Simultaneous real-time investigations of the mothers' and the babies' heart rate variability during a live mother-baby-interaction seems necessary to provide further explanations.