Having a premature baby can be very unnerving for parents. It is difficult to assume an event as unexpected as the anticipated birth of a child who still had to remain several more weeks in the womb.
Faced with a premature birth, feelings of all kinds arise in parents such as worry, insecurity, fear, but also hope and a superhuman strength to protect and help the baby when they get ahead.
Prematurity is not an easy trance, of course. In these ten tips for parents of premature babies, we summarize some recommendations that will help you cope as well as possible.
1) Get informed
Good information is the first step toward your baby’s recovery. Today it can be easily accessed through various sources: specialized books, the internet, forums, associations, projects, etc.
It will be very useful for parents to become familiar with issues such as the stay in the intensive care unit, special care for premature babies, the stages of their development, etc.
2) Communicate with doctors
Sometimes, delving into the baby’s health status implies more pain and the desire to know is inhibited, but fluid and clear communication between parents and doctors will benefit the baby.
It is very important that parents feel that they are being properly informed by the doctors and staff caring for their baby. Don’t be afraid to ask all the necessary questions.
3) Seek family support
At this time, the support of family members is essential so that parents can dedicate themselves exclusively to their baby, whether they remain hospitalized or care for them at home.
4) Kangaroo Method
The best that parents can do in relation to the care of the premature is to provide contact through caresses, massages and skin-to-skin contact .
The kangaroo method, supporting the baby on the mother’s breast, has proven to be very advantageous for its development. Among other benefits, it helps to regulate breathing and body temperature, to reduce stress, to better tolerate pain, to facilitate breastfeeding and to establish an emotional bond with parents.
5) Breastfeeding
Whenever possible, breastfeeding is the best food for the premature infant. Both from the nutritional point of view due to its immunological and antiallergic effect, as well as from the emotional point of view, since it favors the affective bond between mother and baby.
Breast milk has shown multiple benefits in the premature baby, since it is a true natural medicine that helps to improve the structure of the heart and reduce the incidence and severity of some typical diseases of prematurity, such as necrotizing enterocolitis (in 80 %), a disease that affects the intestine and colon and may require surgery.
Breast milk for preterm infants is a health treatment that the mother can provide, preferably directly through the suction of the breast or with expressed milk.
It is not easy, you have to be very patient because sometimes the baby makes a great effort to suck, but there is the possibility of expressing the milk and giving it with a syringe or tube. Good information, emotional support, and practical help are three keys to successful preterm breastfeeding.
6) Contact with the baby
Although the baby does not show signs of response to the presence of the parents, early contact between the newborn and the parents (especially the mother) is as important a stimulus as is food.
It is normal for the parents of a premature newborn to be afraid of touching it because of its fragility, but it is still a baby with a great need to be in contact with its mother, like any newborn. Premature infants are not unable to receive affection through caresses, massages, and skin-to-skin contact.
What’s more, they need that contact to improve their neurological skills. Hugging, caressing, touching the baby, singing to him, talking to him is therapeutic and is key to improving his development.
7) Send you positive messages
In addition to the language of contact, or when this is not possible, verbal language is a way to stimulate a positive relationship with the baby.
The gentle words of his parents will convey to the little love, security and tranquility. It is a way of making him feel that he is not alone and little by little he will recognize the voice of mom and dad.
8) Parent groups
Sharing experiences with other parents of premature babies can be very positive. It is advisable not to isolate yourself and exchange feelings and concerns both in the hospital, and through face-to-face groups or the internet, such as Share your story by March of Dimes, Prematuros.info, Prematuros sin borders or Aprem.
Parents’ associations are a valuable help to cope with the first months, since feeling identified with other people who have experienced similar situations is very comforting and positive for parents.
9) Thinking in the present
Many parents feel burdened by the fragility with which the baby is born and this causes them to lose perspective. Negative thoughts about the baby’s future invade, when the important thing is to focus on now .
10) The decisions are yours
Doctors, nurses and the rest of the health personnel are trained people who put all the necessary means for the premature to evolve properly, but they are not their parents . Neither are family members or friends.
Although the situation is special, you are the parents and the decisions you must make as parents are yours.
Photo | iStockphoto
More information | Aprem.org
In Babies and more | Humanize the care of premature babies, Decalogue of the Rights of the premature baby
