What are the benefits and risks of home visits for families with preterm or low-birthweight babies after hospital discharge?

Key messages

• Home visits by medical professionals and volunteers after babies born too early (preterm) or too small (low birthweight) leave the hospital likely increase the number of babies breastfeeding and may improve exclusive breastfeeding when compared to no home visits.

• More intensive home visits (i.e. home visits that occur more often, or are longer, or are delivered by medical professionals who have specialised training such as in caring for preterm babies, and that include support for skin-to-skin contact (kangaroo mother care)) likely lower the risk of these babies dying from any cause or getting very sick from bacterial infections compared to less intensive home visits.

• Future studies are needed that are larger and conducted in low-income countries.

What are preterm and low-birthweight babies?

Babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy are preterm, and those weighing less than 2.5 kg at birth are considered low birthweight. Preterm and low-birthweight babies are more likely to have health problems than full-term or normal-weight babies, especially in the first year of life. Their parents or caregivers may also face extra difficulties caring for them after they leave the hospital.

What are home visits, and why might they be useful?

Home visits involve trained health workers, volunteers, or nurses visiting families in their homes after the baby is discharged from hospital. They teach them how to care for the baby at home, help them grow, and check for any problems. Home visits may differ in how often they occur, how long they last, who delivers them, and the care they provide.

What did we want to find out?

We wanted to find out whether home visits after leaving the hospital could help improve the health of the baby as well as the mental health of parents and caregivers, and bonding with their baby.

What did we do?

We searched for studies comparing:

• home visits for families of preterm or low-birthweight babies versus no home visits; or

• more intensive home visits versus less intensive home visits that were part of standard care.

More intensive home visits could occur more often, last longer, be delivered by more specialised healthcare providers, or involve extra care, such as support for skin-to-skin contact (kangaroo mother care (KMC)).

What did we find?

We found 35 studies, of which 28 studies (including 12,021 babies and 10,056 parents or caregivers) contributed information we were able to use. The studies were conducted worldwide, but very few came from low-income countries.

Home visits versus no home visits

• We are uncertain whether home visits reduce the risk of death from any cause in the first year (1 study, 79 babies).

• Home visits may have little to no effect on babies' thinking skills (3 studies, 287 babies) and likely have little to no effect on their movement skills (1 study, 127 babies).

• We are uncertain whether home visits reduce the risk of diarrhoea at six months (1 study, 179 babies).

• Home visits likely have little to no effect on the growth of the baby at six months (1 study, 179 babies).

• Home visits likely increase the number of babies breastfeeding at six months (4 studies, 1217 babies) and may result in a large increase in exclusive breastfeeding (feeding the baby only breast milk and no other food or drink) at six months (3 studies, 1129 babies).

More intensive home visits versus less intensive home visits (part of standard care)

• Home visits including support for KMC likely reduce the risk of death from any cause at six months (1 study, 8402 babies).

• These visits likely have little to no effect on thinking (1 study, 552 babies) or movement skills (1 trial, 552 babies) at one year.

• Home visits including support for KMC likely reduce diarrhoea slightly at three months (1 study, 7654 babies) and the risk of dangerous bacterial infections in babies slightly at 28 days (1 study, 8384 babies).

• They likely have little to no effect on weight (1 study, 7086 babies) and likely slightly reduce the number of babies who are severely underweight (1 study, 6641 babies) at six months.

• More intensive home visits may have little to no effect on breastfeeding at six months (1 study, 308 babies), and the effect on exclusive breastfeeding is very uncertain (3 studies, 7091 babies).

What are the limitations of the evidence?

Our confidence in the evidence ranged from moderate to very low, as many studies were small and had problems with their methods.

How up to date is this evidence?

The evidence is current to April 2026.