Delivery room cuddles for extremely preterm babies and parents: concept, practice, safety, parental feedback

Families as partners in neonatal neuro-critical care programs

Parents of neonates with neurologic conditions face a specific breadth of emotional, logistical, and social challenges, including difficulties coping with prognostic uncertainty, the need to make complex medical decisions, and navigating new hopes and fears. These challenges place parents in a vulnerable position and at risk of developing mental health issues, which can interfere with bonding and caring for their neonate, as well as compromise their neonate's long-term neurodevelopment. To optimize neurologic and developmental outcomes, emerging neonatal neuro-critical care (NNCC) programs must concurrently attend to the unique needs of the developing newborn brain and of his/her parents. This can only be accomplished by embracing a family-centered care environment-one which prioritizes effective parent-clinician communication, longitudinal parent support, and parents as equitable partners in clinical care. NNCC programs offer a multifaceted approach to critical care for neonates at-risk for neurodevelopmental impairments, integrating expertise in neonatology and neurology. This review highlights evidence-based strategies to guide NNCC programs in developing a family-partnered approach to care, including primary staffing models; staff communication, implicit bias, and cultural competency trainings; comprehensive and tailored caregiver training; single-family rooms; flexible visitation policies; colocalized neonatal and maternal care; uniform mental health screenings; follow-up care referrals; and connections to peer support. IMPACT: Parents of neonates with neurologic conditions are at high-risk for experiencing mental health issues, which can adversely impact the parent-neonate relationship and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of their neonates. While guidelines to promote families as partners in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) have been developed, no protocols integrate the unique needs of parents in neonatal neurologic populations. A holistic approach that makes families true partners in the care of their neonate with a neurologic condition in the NICU has the potential to improve mental and physical well-being for both parents and neonates.

Training in neonatal neurocritical care: A case-based interdisciplinary approach

Interdisciplinary fetal-neonatal neurology (FNN) training strengthens neonatal neurocritical care (NNCC) clinical decisions. Neonatal neurological phenotypes require immediate followed by sustained neuroprotective care path choices through discharge. Serial assessments during neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) rounds are supplemented by family conferences and didactic interactions. These encounters collectively contribute to optimal interventions yielding more accurate outcome predictions. Maternal-placental-fetal (MPF) triad disease pathways influence postnatal medical complications which potentially reduce effective interventions and negatively impact outcome. The science of uncertainty regarding each neonate's clinical status must consider timing and etiologies that are responsible for fetal and neonatal brain disorders. Shared clinical decisions among all stakeholders' balance "fast" (heuristic) and "slow" (analytic) thinking as more information is assessed regarding etiopathogenetic effects that impair the developmental neuroplasticity process. Two case vignettes stress the importance of FNN perspectives during NNCC that integrates this dual cognitive approach. Clinical care paths evaluations are discussed for an encephalopathic extremely preterm and full-term newborn. Recognition of cognitive errors followed by debiasing strategies can improve clinical decisions during NICU care. Re-evaluations with serial assessments of examination, imaging, placental-cord, and metabolic-genetic information improve clinical decisions that maintain accuracy for interventions and outcome predictions. Discharge planning includes shared decisions among all stakeholders when coordinating primary care, pediatric subspecialty, and early intervention participation. Prioritizing social determinants of healthcare during FNN training strengthens equitable career long NNCC clinical practice, education, and research goals. These perspectives contribute to a life course brain health capital strategy that will benefit all persons across each and successive lifespans.

Mother-newborn couplet care: Nordic country experiences of organization, models and practice

Mother-Newborn Couplet Care is a concept and is defined as the provision of care for a sick or preterm newborn in close proximity to and coupled with the care for the mother from the birth of the infant and for as long as the mother needs hospital care. This concept of care requires system change in both obstetrics and pediatrics in terms of the planning and organization of care, equipment and design of units. Accordingly, strong leadership setting clear goals and emphasizing a culture of cohesive care, supported by targeted education and training is crucial to ensure high-quality care of all mother-newborn dyads without separation. We describe various organizational models of Mother-Newborn Couplet Care used in Sweden and Finland and implementation processes. We envision a future where newborns and mothers are always together, irrespective of medical needs, and form an inseparable center around which healthcare services and providers are organized.

Parental Narratives of Bonding and Relational Experiences with Preterm Infants Born at 23 to 24 Weeks-A Qualitative Descriptive Study

(1) Background. The birth of an infant at 23 to 24 weeks poses a significant challenge to healthy parent-infant bonding because of the high risk of infant loss and the prolonged separation. The aim of this study was to retrospectively explore the narratives of parents with children born at 23-24 weeks about their bonding formation and relational experiences. (2) Methods. This was a qualitative descriptive study conducted with Finnish parents of children born at 23 or 24 weeks of gestation. Twenty-nine mothers and eight fathers were retrospectively interviewed using a semi-structured interview about the bonding process with their infant during the period in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and their later parent-child relationship. Parents' narratives were deductively analysed according to a framework previously developed for studying parental bonding. (3) Results. Our results showed that several parents described the bonding process as natural or even easy despite the traumatic start to parenthood. Support from NICU staff and providing opportunities for participation in infant care and parent-infant physical closeness were reported to enhance the bonding process. Our study identified earlier parenting experience as a new element supporting bonding. (4) Conclusions. According to our results, essential elements enhancing parent-infant bonding in NICU settings seem to be supporting parents psychologically, promoting parent-infant closeness, and encouraging parental participation in the infants' care, even with the most immature infants.

Nursing care of infants born extremely preterm

With improving survival at the lowest gestations an increasing number of tiny and vulnerable infants are being cared for, and optimal outcomes require an approach to care that takes their specific characteristics into account. These include immature organ function and a risk for iatrogenic injury, and parental/familial strain due to the high degree of uncertainty, infant-mother separation, and long hospital stay. While the challenges in providing nursing care to these infants are obvious it is also clear that this field has tremendous potential to influence both short and long-term outcomes of this population. This mini-review discusses aspects of the nursing care provided to infants born at the very lowest gestations and their families, with focus on doing less harm by establishing an adequate care environment, actively promoting parental closeness and care-giving, and conservative skin care.

Cuddling very and extremely preterm babies in the delivery room is a positive and normal experience for mothers after the birth

AIM

Extremely preterm infants are separated from their mothers immediately after birth and not placed skin-to-skin in routine neonatal intensive care unit settings. Visual and physical contact in the delivery room as a first cuddle potentially can facilitate early parent-infant interaction and reduce the trauma of separation. Our aim in this study was to explore mothers' experience of delivery room cuddle by collecting qualitative feedback via emotional mapping.

METHODS

Six mothers experiencing delivery room cuddle had been recruited (GA of their babies 24 + 5-29 + 0 weeks, birth weight 540-1019 g). Using a descriptive qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were performed with six mothers following consent via Zoom or phone between September 2020 and March 2021. Interviews were transcribed using AI Otter and then analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Analysis of the participants' experiences revealed five themes: fears and hopes around delivery; the moment of delivery-recognising uncertainty; reclaiming normalcy; forming connections; and the journey ahead as an empowered parent.

CONCLUSION

All mothers reported positive emotions about the cuddle with their baby. They highlighted that this physical contact was often the only positive and 'normal' birth experience they had from the time of delivery.

48 Use of Simulation to Introduce Delivery Room Cuddles as Standard Practice in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) was introduced in the 1970s to keep premature babies warm after birth. There has been growing evidence of multiple benefits including physiological autoregulation, reduced stress, positive attachment, enhanced neurocognitive development, breastfeeding and psychological well-being. Delivery Room Cuddles (DRC) was introduced 15 years ago in Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals as an extension of KMC. Other units have since reported the successful introduction of the process

The aim of the study was to safely introduce DRC as standard practice in our NICU.

We obtained feedback on parental and staff experience with DRC. A Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (

FMEA

Before implementation, 54 medical and nursing staff completed the survey, rating statements on confidence from 1 ‘strongly disagree’ to 5 ‘strongly agree’. Confidence was higher in non-intubated infants 32–34 weeks’ gestation (33/54 rated 5) and lowest in intubated infants <27 weeks’ gestation (10/54 rated 5). Staff reported anxieties around equipment failure, delaying care and adverse events. Thirty-nine parents completed the questionnaire. Thirty-four babies were born locally. Only five babies had DRC, of which four had no respiratory support. Time to first skin-to-skin contact ranged from 2 hours to 17 days (mean of 5 days). DRC is becoming routine practice in our NICU with no adverse events to date. Anecdotally staff and parents report great satisfaction with DRC, although formal outcome assessment is outstanding. Introducing DRC is feasible with adequate process planning and staff training using video simulation and workshops. DRC is cherished by families, rewarding for staff and sets infants up for a positive start in the neonatal journey. With examples of successful DRC practice and emerging safety outcome data, DRC is likely to become routine practice. Using this model of process design and training, other units will also be able to safely introduce DRC.