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Home › Articles › Newborn Care › Not-So-Tiny Anxiety

Not-So-Tiny Anxiety

Overcoming the Fear of Caring
for Your Preemie

By Katherine Bontrager

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Becoming familiar with and learning how to appropriately respond to their premature baby's behaviors are all ways parents can take an active role in their baby's care, Smith says.

A Hands-on Approach
Smith suggests a number of activities parents can assume from the time their baby is admitted into the NICU and throughout their hospitalization. Regardless of how small or sickly the baby may be, parents can participate in hands-on care to promote early parent-infant bonding. Great bonding activities include kangaroo care, allowing the newborn to nuzzle at the breast even before the baby is "ready" to breastfeed, engaging in infant massage, simply touching the child, reading, talking, bathing, changing diapers and additional traditional parenting activities.

"As parents become familiar with their premature baby and engage in his or her daily routine of care, their self-confidence will increase and their stress and anxiety will decrease, allowing for a smoother transition to home," Smith says.

Dr. Burke likewise encourages parents to spend as much time in the nursery with their premature newborn as their life will allow. "I definitely encourage parents to mimic the nurses when handling their premature children," he says. "I go further than simply having the parents copy what they see the nurses do. Asking the nurse for help – 'What's the best way to hold my baby?' or 'How much should I let her eat before I burp her?' – can be of great assistance for parents. No parent should fear that they are asking a stupid question. Stupid questions about how to care for a newborn don't exist."


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