WHO recommends 8+ hours a day of skin-to-skin from birth.
In the first days of life, fragile infants <1.5 kg* often receive less than 30 minutes.
actually received, a day
What babies under 32 weeks receive in most units, in the first 7–14 days of life.2,3
* Under 1.5 kg is the most fragile group, and the one least likely to be held today. Skincubator is designed for infants under 2000 g, including under 1000 g.
Because the NICU is built around the incubator. Every device, protocol and workflow assumes a baby lying in the incubator. None is designed for a baby on a parent.
Six jobs to hold a fragile baby for hours.
Move the baby
Out of the incubator and onto the parent, with every line and tube still attached.
Today: 2–3 staff members, over five minutes, with cold stress, and anxiety to both parent and staff.
The cost: The transfer itself becomes the reason a session is postponed.
Keep the lines in place
Tube, catheters, lines and probes must stay exactly where they were placed.
Today: Taped to the parent or the chair.
The cost: The fear of dislodging something ends the session early.
Hold warmth and humidity
The warmth and humidity the incubator provides have to travel with the baby.
Today: 68% to 42% humidity the moment the baby leaves the incubator, and an hour to recover.
The cost: Preterm skin loses water fast: 4.7 ml/kg/hr in transepidermal water loss.4
Watch and reach the baby
The team has to see the baby and reach the baby throughout.
Today: Routine care means ending the session.
The cost: Every check cuts short the session it interrupts.
Sustain eight hours
Hours in one position, for the parent holding and the staff watching.
Today: The parent cannot sleep during skin-to-skin care.
The cost: Hours of care are lost to fatigue rather than to clinical need.
Prepare the parent
Parents need to know what to expect, before the first session and at the bedside.
Today: Staff most often improvise, without tools or time.
The cost: An unprepared parent means a shorter, more anxious session.
Skincubator is rebuilding the NICU around human connection.
The infrastructure for the hours on a parent’s chest: warmth, humidity, the lines and the tube all carried, so one nurse can make the transfer.
“It gave me a meditative way to step back into pregnancy, to allow a more gradual, less traumatic separation.”
What it takes to enable prolonged skin-to-skin care for fragile infants in the critical first days of life.
Four combined wearable and behavioural subsystems, solving six critical tasks at once.
Retractable transfer pad
One nurse, under three minutes, with all lines and tubes secured.
Environmental control
70–90% humidity and 29–31 °C on a parent’s chest, with visibility and access.
Dynamic anchoring
ET tube and umbilical lines anchored with 5–10 mm of controlled slack.
Parent engagement programme
Antenatally, then at the bedside. In their language, on their schedule.
The FDA grants Skincubator Breakthrough Device Designation.
Breakthrough Device Designation goes to technologies that address an unmet need in a life-threatening condition. Skincubator holds it as a novel technology for prolonged skin-to-skin care with high-acuity preterm infants.
Designation gives the program priority FDA interaction through development. It is not clearance, approval or market authorization.
SBIR Fast Track, Notice of Award received.
Phase I planned to start in fall 2026.
ISO 13485 certified.
Certified quality management system for design and manufacture.
Bring prolonged skin-to-skin care to your unit.
Clinicians, hospitals, investors and families: tell us who you are, and the right person on our team will get back to you.
Or write to info@skincubator-neocare.com
Thank you. We will come back to you shortly.
References
1. World Health Organization. Recommendations for care of the preterm or low-birth-weight infant, 2022.
2. Travis KE, Lazarus MF, Scala M, et al. Skin-to-skin holding in relation to white matter microstructure in infants born preterm. Neurology, 2025;105(8):e214138. Stanford, 86 infants under 32 weeks: an average of 24 minutes of skin-to-skin a day. doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000214138
3. Inpatient skin-to-skin care predicts 12-month neurodevelopmental outcomes in very preterm infants. The Journal of Pediatrics, 2024. Stanford, level IV NICU: families averaged about 17 minutes a day. PMC11514444
4. Karlsson V, et al. The Journal of Pediatrics, 2012. Transepidermal water loss in preterm infants during skin-to-skin care.