Mental health articles

 

Hospital ecology for premature infant For many parents of a premature or very sick infant, the first real meeting with
the baby is in the NICU. The baby is in a Perspex box, attached to machines that
emit intermittent electronic sounds. There is no privacy. Often, parents are
shocked at the size and colour of their baby, expressing their observations in
tones of disbelief: ‘she looks like a hairy monkey’ or ‘he looks like a skinned
rabbit’. They cannot touch their baby, they can only sit and look.
Instead of being able to get to know each other in the quietness and intimacy
of their own home, the new family has to do so in the rarefied environment of
the NICU. The family has to accommodate nursing and medical staff and
negotiate opportunities to hold, feed and bathe their baby. Ordinarily, in the first
days and weeks of the infant’s life there are hundreds of acts of intimacy between
new parents and their baby, which are the building blocks of the relationship. For
the parents of the premature and very sick infant there is limited contact and the
parents struggle with their identity as mother and father.
At the point of discharge, reality dawns. They did have a baby and suddenly
they are totally responsible for her welfare.

Tags: infant