The number of hours of skin - to - skin contact a baby receives in the first day of life has been shown to
enhance his mother's
sensitivity to his cognitive development and
emotional security even a year later.
In addition to their ability to maintain
sensitivity to unexpected events against a background of expected stressors, Novel rats also exhibit reduced
emotional reactivity measured in the open field (11, 22),
enhanced HPA negative feedback control as indicated by a greater CORT suppression of hippocampal field potentials (23), and a reduced basal CORT concentration (13).