Mothers’ and fathers’ early tactile contact behaviors during triadic and dyadic parent-infant interactions immediately after birth and at 3-months postpartum: Implications for early care behaviors and intervention

•Mothers and fathers display similar kinds of touch when interacting with their infants for the very first time.•Mothers were found to display higher quantities of touch than fathers in the immediate postpartum period.•Maternal touching behaviors within the first hour after birth predicted maternal touching behaviors three months later.•More maternal touch after birth was associated with more soothing/regulating touch after the Still-Face period. Mothers’ and fathers’ touch were investigated during their first naturalistic interaction with their newborns, and maternal touch was predicted from newborn to 3-months postpartum during the Still-Face (SF) procedure. Both parents displayed more nurturing types of touch when interacting with their infants for the first time. Maternal touch at newborn predicted maternal touch after, but not before, the SF 3-months later; more touch after birth was associated with more soothing, regulating, types of maternal touch following the SF, suggesting that the nature of these interactive contexts (post-birth, post-SF) may be parallel. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the full range of maternal and paternal touching behaviors during the first hour after birth. It is also one of the only investigations that considers how mothers’ very first touch and physical contact relate to their later touch at 3-months. Our results uniquely contribute by revealing the nurturing and predictive quality of parents’ touch, and underscore touch as a primary means of early contact and communication.