Most Spanish maternity wards are committed to not restricting the visit of parents to their premature babies, admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU).
But there is still the second part: letting mom and dad be fully involved in your care and that this includes breastfeeding on demand, without restrictions.
A new European study has shown that facilitating exclusive breastfeeding of preterm infants in the NICU not only encourages them to go home earlier but also increases the likelihood of successful breastfeeding at discharge.
Skin to skin and exclusive breastfeeding
Every year 15 million premature babies are born in the world, which represents one in every 10 births. When this happens, fear, tears, and anxiety appear for their parents.
But the baby also suffers significant stress due to being deprived of certain family care, both physical (breastfeeding or constant stimuli from the environment), and emotional (skin-to-skin contact and attention from parents and siblings that help reduce anxiety and anxiety. loneliness).
It is known that the involvement of parents in the care of their premature children is one of the pillars of neonatal care. That neonatal units are open to parents 24 hours a day, facilitates breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact.
The involvement and integration of the family in their hospital care, reduces the incidence of possible health complications, hospitalization time and improves brain and psychomotor development, minimizing sequelae.
Lactation established on the way home
The study ‘Results of breastfeeding in European NICUs: impact of parental visit policies’, carried out by researchers from the European EPICE project, studied the importance of breastfeeding in preterm infants, in 11 EU countries , and they have verified that those who enjoyed unrestricted visits from their parents were twice as likely to be discharged with exclusive breastfeeding than in centers with controlled schedules.
The article, published in the British Medical Journal, followed the evolution of large preterm infants discharged from 11 European Union countries and who spent more than 70 percent of their short lives in the same NICU.
The researchers studied babies who were breastfed and others who were not. In addition, they calculated the presence of parents in the neonatal ICU, on a scale of one to ten.
The data confirmed that policies regarding visiting hours, their duration, and the ability for parents to stay during medical rounds and spend the night in the NICU differ from country to country and even within each.
With all these factors in mind, the conclusion was that infants cared for in units with open-door parental policies were approximately twice as likely to be discharged with exclusive breastfeeding, and with all the benefits that this implies for the immune system of the infant. baby.
Undoubtedly, one more reason to bet on the ICUs of nenonates open to parents 24 hours a day and promote direct care, so that the mother can help her child through the healthiest and most complete nutrition: breast milk.
Photos | iStock
