Infant Clothes
Caring for an infant
There is a popular belief that preterm infants, those born
before 37 weeks gestation, are positively affected by touch. It is
important to both parents and practitioners to understand the
context of this touch. When a baby is born significantly before
his or her "due date" this newborn is subject to more poking and
prodding than a full term baby would typically receive. Infants
are subjected to a battery of tests and measures to ensure their
safety and health. These babies are at a high risk for
developmental delays, such as weak fine and gross motor skills,
slow cognitive skills, late developing language skills, as well as
attention and behavioral disorders. Physically, their bodies are
just not ready for the world outside the womb and they may
experience breathing difficulties and respiratory dysfunction,
sight impairment, and jaundice, due to incomplete development of
the liver.
They are also at a risk for Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC),
which is an infection of the stomach and intestines. NEC is most
common in preterm and especially low weight babies. There is
currently no cure. In order to prevent, catch, or diagnose a
dysfunction or illness with preterm babies, close watch must be
kept on all of the newborns' functions and fluids. Blood tests are
preformed several times a week, and often several times a day. A
prick in the heel to check bilirubin for jaundice seems as simple
as a finger prick to test a diabetic's blood sugar, but when your
heel is the size of a thumb with fresh new skin, and you have no
idea why you're being held down on a cold table and stuck with a
painful object, it's pretty traumatic. I can still see my preemie
baby's confused look turn to horror every time they pricked her
teeny heel. Often, a preemie will be subjected to even "scarier"
and more painful procedures, such as IVs, catheters, feeding
tubes, and phototherapy. Preterm infants have been studied to show
adverse reactions to this negative touch, such as "hypoxia,
bradycardia, sleep disruptions, or increased intracranial
pressure."
Because of this connection between touch and pain expressed to
preterm infants, it is imperative that parents and practitioners
counteract the negative connotation with positive examples of
touch, so a baby can learn and grow from these interactions.
Gentle and loving touch will not only teach a baby that touch can
be a positive thing, it will physically assist in physical and
psychological growth. A study performed at the University of
Alabama at Birmingham evaluated the effects of gentle touch on 42
preterm infants. "Nurses placed one hand on the back of each
infant's head and one on each infant's lower back for 10 minutes,
twice per day for 10 days. During these periods, infants showed
significantly fewer stress behaviors (eg, clenching fists, facial
grimaces)" (AORN, 2001).
In Bergen Community Hospital in NJ where my friend's son was
born 3 months early, they promoted Kangaroo Care for tiny 1 ½
pound Tyler. Every day, although he was attached to three monitors
and several tubes all over his little body, his mommy was
encouraged to put him against her body and allow him to feel her
skin. Kangaroo Care is a method of holding a preterm infant
directly to his or her parents' skin. First initiated by two South
American neonatologists, Edgar Rey and Hector Martinez, Kangaroo
Care has been used throughout the world to increase bonding and
emotional closeness, as well as regulating baby's heartbeat, body
temperature, and initiation of lactation.
Positive touch such as Kangaroo Care, breastfeeding, and
rubbing a baby's back is beneficial to both baby and parents,
leading to stronger emotional, psychological and physical
well-being.
