For Our Little Miracles by Krisanne Collard
Overstimulation and Your Premature Baby
by Maren Peterson-DeGroff, educator and advocate for children and families
Summa Health
An article on Developmental Care by Suzanne Manby
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
by Jane E. Brazy
Preemie-l
Support for parents of preemies
Institute for Family Centered Care
Non-profit organization designed to advance the understanding and practice of family centtered care.
DEVELOPMENTAL CARE PLANS
Childmed
by Katherine M Jorgenson, RNC, MSN/MBA, Hon D, Director of Education for Children's Medical Ventures
PRODUCT SITES
Children's Medical Ventures
Leading provider in developmentaly supportive and appropriately sized products for premature and ill newborns
Tiny Things
Developmental care products for premature infants
Swaddling - special bedding (or rolled up receiving blankets) should be used to position the baby like they were positioned in the womb. Knees curled up the their chest, feet confined and arms swaddled close to their face. The more contained the baby is, the less stress it feels. When doing weight checks or moving baby into Kangaroo Care, wrap the baby snugly during their flight across the nursery.
Lighting and Noise Levels should be kept low. ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) is speculated at being caused by the lights in the NICU being too bright. A dark piece of cloth placed over the eyes is a good way to prevent this eye damage.
Kangaroo Care and Touch can decrease the stress to these little Miracles. This includes co-bedding for twins. One twin Kangarooing the other...what a concept! See the link to my Kangaroo Care website on the right.
Individual Care Plans - No two babies are exactly the same. Some love to be held, others become agitated at a touch. Some are stressed out by the noise in the NICU, others relish in it. That is why Individual Care Plans should be used and placed by each baby's bedside to warn vistors, family members and medical staff of each baby's particular stressors. A Goal Chart can be a great tool to get parent's involved in their baby's care.
Parental Involvement - Getting the parent's involved in ALL aspects of their child's NICU stay is extremely important. The more the parent is able to do for their child in the NICU, the more that they will feel comfortable doing when the child goes home with them. Get the parents involved in making the Individual Care Plan, let them diaper and feed their baby, let them hold their baby...let them be the parents they are!!
All who deal with the premature baby need to make sure not to do too many actions at once. Add stimulus slowly. During heal pricks, make sure that the baby is contained and no other stessors are happening at the same time. When holding their child, parents should not rock, sing and touch baby at the beginning. Do one, then slowly add another when the child has shown tolerance for the first action. This will make it easy for parents and medical staff to understand their particular baby's stressors.
My interest in Developmental Care and Kangaroo Care started when our oldest daughter was in the NICU. We were able to Kangaroo every day from birth, even on oscillating and traditional ventilators. The Individual Care Plan helped me get to know my daughter better. I loved being able to feed, diaper and take care of her as if we were at home. I felt like a mom!
When Kaia was about a year old, I was sad to hear that most hospitals didn't allow Kangaroo Care or any type of holding for weeks, even months after birth. I tried to find more information on the Internet, but there were no exclusive sites for Kangaroo Care, nowhere for parents or hospital staff to go to learn more about the wonderful possibilities of Kangaroo Care. Visit my web site at www.geocities.com/roopage. My Kangaroo Care site spurred me to look into Developmental Care sites on the Internet, and found few sites that were exclusive for Devlelopmental Care.
So, here it is... I hope you have enjoyed! Please feel free to E-mail me at [email protected] with other Developmental Care sites you enjoy.
