Statistical analysis
weight gain
Data from the charts were transcribed to Office Excel by the study authors (VTP and DVP). Descriptive statistics [mean (SD), frequency (%), median (IQR)] were used to depict the baseline characteristics of the study populations. The Shapiro–Wilk test was used to check the normality of the data. Per protocol analysis was used. Wilcoxon rank-sum test (Mann–Whitney two-sample statistic) was used to assess the median differences between the two groups for non-normal data. Pearson chi-squared test was used two compare categorical variables. An independent sample t-test was used to compare the mean difference of KMC hours and weight gain between groups. Summation of time (hours) of all the individual KMC sessions in 24 h was done to calculate daily KMC hours. Newborns in BEMPU group were also divided in two sub-groups based on whether beeping of the BEMPU ever occurred over four weeks or not to compare the daily KMC hours between these two sub-groups to judge whether beeping promotes KMC or not. Similarly, daily KMC hours were also compared between one of the sub-groups of BEMPU group in which there were no beeps ever versus daily KMC hours in control group. Analysis was performed using STATA 14.2 and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.