Neonatal Care

Touching and containing your baby with your hands when they are still too unstable to come out for skin-to-skin care (kangaroo care) is just the beginning of more involvement in your baby’s care.

When you touch your baby, remember not to be so light as to tickle as this can be uncomfortable; be firm yet gentle and your baby will be reassured and comforted.

You may like to just let your baby grasp your finger before using stroking movements. As your baby becomes more stable, the nurses will support you and your baby with kangaroo care.

A baby’s sense of smell is well developed even in the most premature baby. In the NICU, your baby will become familiar with the smell of alcohol hand rub so it’s important to offer them something pleasant and less clinical.

For your baby to learn your smell, you might want to place a small cloth you have had close to your skin near to your baby. Sometimes mothers place breast pads next to baby so that baby learns to recognise the smell of their own mother’s breast milk.

Check with NICU staff to learn what cloth items are appropriate to place in your baby’s space. It’s also important not to overwhelm baby with different complex scents so its suggested parents don’t wear perfume or after shave near to their baby.

Like the sense of smell, a baby’s sense of taste is developed very early on in life as they begin to swallow amniotic fluid. Food flavours that a mother eats during her pregnancy can make their way to the amniotic fluid and begin to shape her baby’s food flavour preferences.

Once born and admitted to the NICU, sick babies initially experience the taste of plastic from breathing and feeding tubes; this can quickly be replaced with mouthcare using breastmilk, sterile water or formula milk.

A baby’s sense of taste is further influenced by the flavours within the milk they are given. If you are providing breastmilk for your baby, remember that what you eat may influence the flavour of your milk and this in turn may affect your baby’s later preferences.

The NICU has sounds that are not usual for a baby and it can be unsettling.

Reading/talking or singing quietly to a baby is one of the most important things a parent can do. It doesn’t matter what you read or say or sing, so long as it is a positive experience for you and your baby.

Your baby will learn to recognise and trust your voice. You may notice your baby pays quiet attention to your voice and relaxes shown by lowering their heart and breathing rate or they may open their eyes and turn their head towards your voice.

Babies who hear words have enhanced connections in their brains which may improve their future language development.

Sight is one of the last senses to develop so it is thought that stimulating this sense might be harmful in premature babies.

For this reason babies often have a cover over their incubators or the nursery window blinds are drawn and overhead lights dimmed. Because babies are very sensitive to bright light they seldom open their eyes or look at their carer; remember this is no reflection of you as parents but a coping mechanism of your baby.

As your baby matures and you learn their cues, you will find some opportunities for face-to-face interaction for example when reading or during skin to skin care.