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Skin-to-skin care (SSC) is essential, can help to prevent separation of parents and the neonate in the NICU, and should be a standard practice. It can safely be integrated into the routine care of preterm neonates, those who require surgery, and those who require all levels of intensive care. Years of experience with the provision of SSC in our NICU influenced our approach to care and resulted in practice guidelines for the safe provision of SSC. In this article, we present our clinical practical guidelines that support SSC and closeness between parents and the neonate to ensure the use of these practices for all neonates in the NICU., (Copyright © 2024 AWHONN, the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: In recent decades, modern neonatal intensive care has improved, increasing the survival of extremely preterm children. Few studies have examined the experiences of parents of extremely preterm children from a long-term perspective., Aim: To describe parents' experiences of parenting extremely preterm children during their childhood and transition to adulthood., Study Design: A qualitative interview study with a descriptive design., Subjects: Thirteen parents of eleven children born at 24 gestational weeks in Sweden, 1990-1992, participated in individual semi-structured interviews., Outcome Measures: Data were analyzed using qualitative reflexive thematic analysis., Result: Five themes forming a timeline were created in the analytic process: parenthood, at the NICU, young childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Various aspects affecting parenthood were described throughout the timeline, and occasionally the parents experienced difficulties dealing with their children's special physical and/or mental needs. Today, some families have established a functioning situation despite their children's physical and/or mental difficulties, while some still struggle with their children's everyday life., Conclusion: Having an extremely preterm family member profoundly affects the whole family for various lengths of time. Parents expressed a need for support from both healthcare and school throughout their children's childhood and in their transition to adulthood, although the need varies between parent-child pairs. By studying the parents' experiences, their need for support can be further recognized and understood, and developed and improved accordingly., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

With improving survival at the lowest gestations an increasing number of tiny and vulnerable infants are being cared for, and optimal outcomes require an approach to care that takes their specific characteristics into account. These include immature organ function and a risk for iatrogenic injury, and parental/familial strain due to the high degree of uncertainty, infant-mother separation, and long hospital stay. While the challenges in providing nursing care to these infants are obvious it is also clear that this field has tremendous potential to influence both short and long-term outcomes of this population. This mini-review discusses aspects of the nursing care provided to infants born at the very lowest gestations and their families, with focus on doing less harm by establishing an adequate care environment, actively promoting parental closeness and care-giving, and conservative skin care., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To examine parental participation in the care of newborn infants receiving therapeutic hypothermia, and to explore the possible impact of in-born vs out-born status, and location of hospital accommodation., Study Design: Retrospective, quantitative and descriptive design., Main Outcome Measures: Infants medical charts were reviewed for defined aspects of parental participation (infant holding, tube feeding, and diaper change), and related to their in-born vs out-born status, and whether the parents were accommodated in the NICU or elsewhere. All infants have been cared for at the University Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, serving as a regional referral center for hypothermia treatment. This study is a part of a population-based regional cohort of asphyxiated newborn infants (n = 112) that received therapeutic hypothermia in 2007-2015., Results: Parents engaged in holding (60/112, 54%) or tube feeding (59/112, 53%) their infant. Parents of in-born infants (24/112, 21%) were more likely to check the placement of the feeding tube (11/24, 46% vs 15/88, 17%; p < 0.01) and change diapers (9/24, 38% vs 14/88, 16%; p < 0.05) than parents of out-born infants (88/112, 79%). A similar pattern of more extensive involvement was observed for both mothers and fathers who stayed at the neonatal intensive care compared to those accommodated elsewhere (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: Active parental participation is feasible at the NICU even during therapeutic hypothermia. Timely postnatal transfer of parents of out-born/transported infants, and the provision of on-site accommodation may influence the quality of parental involvement., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To describe mothers' experiences of providing their preterm infants with Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC)., Study Design: A qualitative descriptive design., Setting: Two level III neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in Sweden., Participants: Thirteen mothers of preterm infants., Methods: The mothers were interviewed when their infant had reached a corrected age of 4 months ± 2 weeks. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis., Results: The mothers described the skin-to-skin contact with, and closeness to, the preterm infant as something they valued, and involuntary physical separation as something they had to accept and adapt to. Providing the infant with breast milk by expressing and tube feeding was experienced as time-consuming and as impinging on the skin-to-skin contact., Conclusion: Mothers want to stay close to their preterm infant. The NICU environment and staff can facilitate KMC by providing a private space for parents and infants, and enable mothers to breastfeed and express breast milk by giving them support based on science and proven experience., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To explore fathers' perception of information received during their infants' care at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)., Methods: An inductive, qualitative and descriptive study. Eight fathers in two units were interviewed. The infants' gestational age at birth ranged between 23 and 36 weeks. Data were collected through semi-structured, individual interviews and were analyzed by qualitative content analysis., Results: Three categories were identified: perception of information, perception of the source of information, and circumstances influencing the perception of information. Information had an important impact; comprehensible and adequate information increased the fathers' knowledge, which generated a sense of control. Early information about the infant's care was particularly important and positively affected father and infant bonding., Conclusion and Practical Implications: Ensuring a high quality of information is an important task for NICU staff. Fathers' perception of the quality of information depended on the contents of the information and how it was conveyed. Comprehensible information at the onset of the infant's hospital stay increased the fathers' sense of security, and made them feel in control. It is important that the staff strive to identify what information the father requires, and prevent situations when fathers feel uncertainty about what the staff expect from them., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)