The importance of skin-to-skin contact for babies who are born prematurely has been highlighted in a new study.

According to the findings, the benefits that these babies gain from having skin-to-skin contact with their mothers are measurable even a decade after their birth.

It is already widely acknowledged that physical contact with babies is essential, both for their psychological and physical development. Babies who are neglected can develop a wide range of problems, from a failure to thrive to mental health issues.

Researchers in Israel set out to assess the impact of different levels of physical contact when it came to babies who had been born prematurely.

They compared standard incubator care with a concept known as kangaroo care. This was originally developed in Columbia - where access to incubators was limited - to reduce the risk of hypothermia in babies born prematurely.

Kangaroo care basically uses the body heat of the mother to keep her baby warm.

As part of the study, 73 mothers provided skin-to-skin contact to their premature babies in a neonatal unit for 60 minutes every day for two weeks. These were compared to 73 infants who received standard incubator care.

The children were then followed up seven times over the next 10 years.

The study found that during this 10-year period, the children who had received kangaroo care displayed better cognitive skills and executive abilities. Executive abilities refer to skills that are coordinated in the brain and help a person achieve certain goals, such as managing time, planning and organising, remembering details and curbing inappropriate behaviour.

Furthermore, at the age of 10, those who had received kangaroo care tended to sleep better, respond to stress better and had better functioning of the automatic nervous system, which is the part of the nervous system that controls involuntary actions, such as the beating of the heart.

The study also found that during the children's first six months of life, women in the kangaroo care group tended to be more sensitive and maternal towards their babies.

Details of this study are published in the journal, Biological Psychiatry. Commenting on the findings, the journal's editor, Dr John Krystal, said that this study ‘reminds us once again of the profound long-term consequences of maternal contact'.

"The enhanced level of stimulation provided by this contact seems to positively influence the development of the brain and to deepen the relationship between mother and child," he noted.

Meanwhile the researchers added that kangaroo care is an ‘easy-to use intervention with minimal cost'.